Hunted
by TessaStarDean
Summary: Cowritten with Rory. One by one, they're being hunted...
1. Chapter 1

**Jack and Chloe**

Jack glanced out the window again. "Have you seen that car before?"

Chloe sipped her coffee. "What car?"

"The black one."

Her eyes flitted to the window. "I don't know. Why?"

"I've seen it somewhere."

She swallowed. "Where?"

"I'm not sure."

"What are you thinking?"

"It would be easy to find us here. I meet you for breakfast once a week."

"Do you recognize them?"

"No. We need to get out of here."

"And go where?"

"Safe house."

She nodded. "I'll meet you there."

His eyes narrowed. "Where are you going?"

"To get my laptop."

"I'll go with you."

They drove silently to her apartment.

"I think I lost him," Jack muttered. "For now."

"Good."

"This is a bad idea."

"It will take two minutes."

"I'm going with you." He left the car running in front of her apartment building.

She started to push the elevator button when he pulled her into the stairwell. She followed him slowly up the steps until he stopped.

"What?" she demanded.

"We have to go."

"Why?"

"They've already been here."

"How can you know that?" She tried to peer around his body and gasped. "Oh my God," she whispered.

"We need to get out of here," he said, steering her away from the dead body.

"My laptop."

"Is not worth dying for."

She nodded slowly as he put her back in the car.

He flipped open his cell phone and dialed quickly.

"Hello?" Tony answered blurrily.

"I need you," Jack said simply.

"What's happening?"

"Get Kim out of the city now."

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**Kim and Tony**

"Tony?" Kim asked when she opened the door.

He grabbed her arm. "We have to go."

"What? Where?" she was nervous, he was holding onto her so tightly it hurt.

"I can't explain things." He pulled her down the hallway.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on." She could feel the blood pounding in her head.

"There's no time," he snapped, clearly frustrated.

"What's going on?"

"You have to trust me," he said as he pushed her into the car.

She stared out the window. "Why should I?"

He shrugged. "Don't you know I wouldn't hurt you?"

"I don't really know anything any more."

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She wasn't sure where they were or how long they'd been driving, she'd fallen asleep even though she tried not to.

"Why won't you tell me what's happening?" she asked.

"I will tell you, later."

"You kidnapped me."

"No I didn't."

"You grabbed and forced me into a car and you won't tell me where you're taking me."

"I'll tell you once I figure it out."

She stared at him. "You're supposed to be dead. I went to your funeral."

"Your dad was supposed to be dead too."

"Chloe brought you back to life too?"

"Something like that."

"So does this have something to do with all of that?"

"No," he muttered. "At least I don't think so."

"You don't think so."

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on."

"What?!"

"I didn't have time to ask, I was too busy saving your life."

"Are you waiting for me to say thank you?"

"I'm waiting for you to go back to sleep."

She rolled her eyes. "Sorry you find the company disappointing. I'll try to be more stimulating."

"Don 't you even care that you were almost killed?"

"I don't even know why I should believe you."

"Why would I lie to you?"

"You faked your death. You lied to everyone who ever knew you."

"It wasn't like that."

"Trust me, it's not that different."

"Suddenly you're an expert?"

"On what it feels like to find out you've been mourning someone, destroying your life, and they're not even really dead? Yeah, I know a few things."

He watched her out of the corner of his eye. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want your apology."

"We'll stop soon."

"I don't care."

"Kim."

"I don't. I don't care that you're sorry, I don't care that we're stopping, drive until you get bored with me and leave too. I don't care any more, Tony, I don't care!"

"We'll find a place to stay."

"Whatever."

Tony opened his mouth to reply when he was cut off by a car slamming into his side of the car, sending them into a tailspin. He grabbed at the steering wheel, trying to keep the vehicle under control. Eventually he was able to straighten the car out, and he slammed his foot on the gas pedal to get away from their pursuers.

"What the hell was that?" Kim demanded breathlessly, her knuckles white as they clutched the handlebar above her head.

"I don't know," Tony growled. "But I'm sure they're not done with us."

As they continued to speed along the highway, a red jeep pulled up alongside them, the doors and cloth roof removed. Kim stared in horror as the man in the back pulled out a gun, aiming it right at her.

"Tony!" she screamed.

Turning his head, Tony cursed as he maneuvered the car, swinging in and out of lanes and pushing the speedometer as far as it would go. Kim kept her eyes on the jeep, which was having little trouble keeping up. Her fear had closed down her vocal cords and she found that she could only stare as the other vehicle weaved in and out of traffic, chasing them relentlessly.

When traffic permitted, the jeep was right alongside them again, but their guns were gone. Kim watched them in confusion as they pulled up ahead of them a little, until the back was level with her. Then one of the men reached out, his hand going for her door handle. Kim didn't realize what he was doing until it was too late, and her door was wrenched open. The jeep sideswiped them hard, breaking the door right off of its hinges.

In her anger and confusion at being dragged out of her apartment so suddenly, Kim had never put on her seatbelt. The man in the back of the seat reached out, grabbing on of her arms and entangling his other hand in her hair. He pulled, obviously expecting that it would be easy to lift her out of the car. But Kim fought back with everything she had – she even managed to bite the guy's wrist.

Tony tried to help, but his abilities were limited. He had to keep maneuvering the car, or they would definitely get Kim. But he also knew that she couldn't fight the guy off all by herself. He moved to wrap one arm around her waist, to anchor her to her seat.

But then everything went wrong. The traffic in front of them forced the driver of the jeep to swerve to the right – and away from the car. At the same time, Kim managed to sink her teeth into her attacker's wrist again. He let go, cursing, but still had his other hand clamped in her hair. As the vehicles moved apart, Kim was dragged out of the car by her scalp, her body hitting the asphalt as the man held onto her with one hand. The jeep picked up speed, dragging her along the road. Other cars honked and beeped as they moved to avoid her, but it was obvious that if she wasn't lifted soon, she was going to be killed.

Tony immediately pulled up behind the jeep, keeping pace with it, his front end mere inches away from the back. Setting the cruise control, he pulled out his gun and leaned out his window, taking as careful aim as he could on a busy highway. He controlled his breathing, reminding himself that this was his only chance to stop them from taking her.

The bullet ripped through the guy's wrist just as he reached down with his other hand to pull her up. He let go with a loud curse, and Kim was dropped to the pavement, where she curled into the fetal position, trying to avoid being hit.

Tony slammed on his breaks immediately, coming to a stop right next to her. He got out and lifted her into his arms without hesitation, trying to keep his eyes off of the blood soaking the left side of her shirt. Placing her gently in the backseat, he got back behind the wheel, roaring down the nearest exit as the jeep turned and tried to find them again.

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He carried her into the motel, yanking the bedspread off of the bed and dragging it into the bathroom where he laid her on the floor. He peeled her clothing off carefully, stopping when she winced or hissed in pain, moving slowly until it was done. She watched him dully.

The wounds on her side were the worst, the only ones that were still bleeding. He'd decided to avoid the freeway and stick to back roads, stopping after an hour to switch cars, and then again, another hour later, switching license plates.

He grabbed a towel to stop the bleeding, pressing it to her skin as gently as he could. She winced and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"You saved my life."

"I almost got you killed."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "We're trying to figure it out."

"Why would they come after me? What did I do?"

"It's not just you."

"Who else?" she demanded.

"Not sure about that either," he muttered, finally satisfied that her bleeding had stopped. He started cleaning her wounds.

"My dad?"

Tony nodded. "Either him or Chloe."

"Are they okay?"

"As far as I know. They took off. Jack told me you get out of the city."

"Why didn't he come for me himself?"

"There wasn't any time. He was already being followed, and if you weren't a target, he didn't want to lead them to you."

"Why didn't you tell me this when you came to my apartment?"

"I didn't want to scare you."

"I was scared anyway."

"I'm sorry."

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"I know. Nothing's broken."

"Lucky me."

"I'm almost done."

"It's still going to hurt."

He walked back into the room to grab his bag. He filled a glass with water and pressed a pill into her hand. "Take this."

She swallowed slowly.

"You should try to sleep." He lifted her up and tenderly carried her back to the bed, wrapping the blankets around her.

Once she was settled he pulled out his cell phone.

"Are you okay?" Jack demanded before Tony could say anything.

"Yes," Tony assured him.

"And Kim?"

"She's fine," he lied.

"Can I talk to her?"

"She's sleeping."

"Oh. You got out of the city?"

"Yeah. You?"

"We were tailed for awhile but I think we lost them."

"Where are you?"

"CTU safe house north of the city." He looked out the cabin windows and across the lake.

"Where did you end up?"

"I went east. We're in some no tell motel in the middle of nowhere. Chloe doesn't know what's going on yet?"

"She's working on it," Jack sighed, glancing at the woman next to him. "We still don't know anything."

"Dammit," Tony muttered. "Call me the minute you do."

"Take care of her," Jack said before ending the call.

"That was my dad," Kim said, more a statement than a question.

"Yeah."

"He's okay?"

"He's safe."

She nodded.

"You need to sleep Kim. It will help."

"I haven't talked to him in years."

"I know."

"Sleep?" she asked.

"Yes."

"What if they come back?"

"I'll keep you safe," he said, stretching out next to her on the bed.

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**Bill and Karen**

"I'm hungry," Karen murmured as she pushed play on the remote.

Bill sighed. "I suppose that means you'd like me to get you something."

She gave him a coy smile. "I'll let the previews play. You won't miss a thing."

"Yes, dear."

He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek before getting off the couch and heading toward the kitchen. As he rifled through the cupboards in search of a snack, his eyes wandered to the window. He looked out across the backyard, his gaze running along the tree line out of habit. Just as he was about to continue looking through the cupboards, something outside caught his attention. It had been only a quick flash, and Bill tried to tell himself that it was just a lightening bug. But a small voice in the back of his head told him that he knew exactly what it was - and it certainly wasn't a bug. 

Taking a deep breath, he moved out into the hallway, stopping at a framed painting of a sailboat. He reached up and lifted the picture off the wall, setting it on the floor. Without hesitation, he began entering his pass code into the keypad.

"Karen? Could you please come in here for a minute?"

There was something in his voice that made Karen get off the couch immediately. She ignored the previews dancing across the television screen and moved slowly into the hall, her body tense and her senses going into hyper drive. She came around the corner and found herself watching as Bill pulled money and firearms out of their safe.

"Bill, what's wrong?"

"I don't know. I saw something outside...I have a bad feeling, Karen. I think we should just get out of the house."

It didn't surprise him when she immediately nodded her agreement. They had both done their jobs too long to ignore those feelings that told them someone was watching them, someone was coming after them. She moved over to stand beside him, reaching for a couple of handguns, one of which she stuck in the waistband of her jeans, and the other she kept in her right hand. Bill threw the money and extra weapons into a backpack he pulled from the closet, grabbing their wallets from the table that stood next to the front door.

He didn't know which exit to try and take until he heard a soft footfall in the kitchen. They were coming in through the back, not wanting to be seen by any of the neighbors. Grabbing Karen's hand, he moved quietly down the hall, trying to stay in the shadows as he heard more men enter the house. He hadn't set the alarm yet, and Bill thanked his forgetfulness as he wrapped his hand around the doorknob and went to open the front door.

It was only a shadow on the surface of the deadbolt that gave him any warning. With a quick turn, he propelled himself and Karen into the living room, both crashing to the floor. Bill felt a sharp sting as a bullet grazed his arm, but he found himself ignoring the pain as he watched his wife sit up and fire three quick shots toward the kitchen. One man went down immediately, and the others took cover. 

Then they were moving again, across the living room and toward the window at the far end. Karen passed Bill her gun and slowly worked the window up, popping out the screen as quietly as she could. As they heard footsteps moving down the hall toward them, the couple slid out the window, moving into the driveway and toward Bill's truck.

"Dammit!" he cursed.

"What?" Karen asked, her gun raised and her eyes fixed on the house.

"My keys. They're inside."

"The bike."

"What?" 

"The bike," she said desperately. "You always leave the keys to the bike in the truck!"

Suddenly understanding, Bill reached his arm through the half-opened window of the pickup truck. Pulling the visor down, he felt the keys to his motorcycle fall into his hand, a sigh of relief escaping him. He rushed toward the hood, grabbing Karen and pulling her to the side of the house, where he had parked his bike to make room for a party they had last week. Without a word he grabbed the bike and began moving it across his neighbor's yard, Karen following close behind. They could hear the men moving through their house now, checking each and every room. When they reached the end of their street, they both climbed on, Karen wrapping her arms tightly around her husband's waist as he started the motorcycle.

"Where are we going, Bill?"

"I don't know, Karen. I don't know."

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**Chase and Nadia**

Nadia glanced up at the man sitting across from her as she finished her dinner. "You don't like it?"

"The food's fine," Chase grinned. "I'm just enjoying the view."

"Does that line actually work?"

"Sometimes. It's not my fault you're so hard to impress."

"I have high standards," she smirked.

"I like a challenge."

"How promising."

"Dessert?" he asked as the waitress made her way to their table. "The chocolate cake looks good."

"I'm not ready for dessert. Maybe later."

"I like the sound of that."

His arm was draped over her shoulder as they walked through the parking lot. Chase pulled her against his body and paused to unlock the car, looking down briefly to avoid fumbling with the keys, his eyes catching a reflection of light.

"Nadia Yassar, you look beautiful in the moonlight," he whispered.

"There's no moon," she laughed.

He frowned, dropping the keys.

"What's wrong?"

"We need to get out of here."

She glanced around the parking lot. "Why?"

"Something's wrong with the car."

Her eyes narrowed. "What's the plan?"

He took her hand and pulled her down the street. "We need to find a new car."

Two blocks later he found a car. Nadia slid into the driver's seat.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"North. CTU has a safe house. It's by a lake or something, some kind of cabin."

He nodded. "We can lay low until we figure out what's going on."

"What about Angela?"

"She'll be fine. She's with my sister. We worked out a plan, she knows that if Chloe or I don't show up when we're supposed to pick her up that something went wrong."

"What do you think this is about?"

"I have no idea," he muttered.

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Chase and Nadia parked in the trees, some distance from the cabin. Both had their weapons out in front of them as they moved ahead cautiously. There was nothing to indicate that anything was wrong, but that in itself was unsettling.

They paused when they reached the treeline, watching the cabin and waiting to see if anyone revealed themselves. Chase's eyes swept over the property, stopping on a car parked to the side.

"Chloe," he whispered. 

"What?"

He pointed. "That's Chloe's car. Why would she be here?"

Nadia paused. "Maybe she's being chased too. Chances are, if she's here, so is Jack."

"Come on."

Chase led them around to the back, moving across the grass and toward the door. He couldn't hear any noises coming from inside and he wondered if they were sleeping. But he knew that if they were being pursued, at least one of them would be keeping watch. Quashing the nauseous feeling that was creeping into his stomach, he moved forward.

The explosion threw them both off of their feet and back toward the trees. Heat engulfed them as fire erupted from the cabin, the wood quickly burning. Flaming debris lay all around them and a nearby tree had caught on fire as well. As he and Nadia looked on in shock, Chase realized that there could be no survivors.


	2. Chapter 2

**Morris**

Voices roared behind him in laughter as Morris stumbled out of the bar. It wasn't quite last call yet, but someone he owed money to had been trying to corner him for the last hour and he was sick of it. The night air was cool and he took a deep breath to steady himself. He had spent all his money inside, so decided that his only option was to try and walk to his apartment.

The street was empty and quiet, and Morris hummed a little tune to keep himself company. His vision was slightly blurry and his feet sometimes had trouble finding the sidewalk, but he had gone this way countless times and he always managed to make it home.

He never heard them coming. A hand clamped over his mouth and he was dragged down a dark side street before he even had time to think about fighting back. He never saw his attackers. As soon as they had him in the alley, they pitched into the side of a building, his skull cracking when it collided with brick.

Blood burst from his head as lead pipes finished him off.

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**Sheri**

Sheri sighed as she walked out into the parking lot. She hated one-day sales, especially the night owls. As store manager, she was usually the last one to leave on a normal night, but these sales had her there until the early hours of the morning.

Her car was the last one in the lot, all the way down on the end. Employees were required to take the worst spots so that the customers could have the best. Sheri normally didn't mind, but tonight she was so tired she could hardly see, and all she wanted to do was lie down. She fumbled with her keys, scratching the door a little as she blindly searched for the lock. Finally the door opened and she practically fell into her seat, tossing her purse onto the floor of the passenger's side. Sighing in relief at finally being off of her feet, she barely registered the unfamiliar scent of cigarette smoke that seemed to linger in the car as she put her key in the ignition and turned it.

Flames erupted into the night.

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**Adam**

The words were starting to run together as Adam struggled to concentrate. His exam was at eight o'clock the next morning, and he cringed as he looked at his watch and realized that was only six hours away. He shook his head in an effort to clear his thoughts before moving his eyes to the top of the page in another attempt to understand what he was reading.

The library was practically deserted, except for the monitor who occasionally walked up and down the stacks to check on things. That's who Adam thought was moving behind him when he heard the softest of footsteps on the carpet.

The sound of his head falling onto the open book was louder than the sound of the shot.

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**Curtis**

Curtis leaned back against his SUV and closed his eyes. He had forgotten to get gas before the party and he knew he was lucky to find a station open this late. For the hundredth time, he wondered why he had even gone. He only knew one or two people there, but his brother had insisted that he needed more of a social life. Now he realized that he just wanted to sleep – social life be damned.

He heard them half a second too late, a foot accidentally scraping against the pavement. Letting go of the nozzle, he immediately pulled his gun out, training it on the men that had come around the back of his vehicle. He squeezed a shot off, taking out one of the two in front of him, the gun clattering to the ground as it fell from his lifeless hand.

But the other was firing even as his comrade fell, and Curtis stumbled back as three, four bullets ripped through his chest. As he lay on the ground, he numbly watched the man get into the SUV, driving off and nearly tearing the nozzle that was still in the tank.

The blood pooled around and under him as the station manager's voice drifted into silence.


	3. Chapter 3

Chase couldn't breathe. His eyes were riveted on the spot where the cabin used to be, the smoke and grief forcing tears down his cheeks. He was no longer even aware of Nadia, his mind flashing through memories over which he had no control. Chloe was his best friend. He had gotten her the job at CTU – the same job that was probably responsible for her death. He would have to tell Angela, explain to her that her Aunt Chloe was gone-

A hand clamped over his mouth and an arm snaked around his torso, dragging him into the woods. He struggled, but the person holding him was stronger. When they were a safe distance into the forest, his captor moved his mouth to his ear.

"Dammit, Edmunds! Stop wiggling!"

The voice made him stop suddenly, and the arm wrapped around his chest slowly slid away. Chase turned around to find himself staring at Jack and Chloe – who, aside from a few small scrapes, looked alive and well. He glanced at Nadia standing beside him, her face registering the same shock he felt. Then he was moving forward, wrapping Chloe in his arms and holding her tight against his body.

"You scared the shit out of me," he mumbled into her hair.

"I'm sorry."

He pulled back and gave her a smile. "You're alive. That's all that matters." He turned to Jack as Nadia moved in to hug Chloe as well. "What the hell are you two doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. But first we need to get out of here."

"We've got a car," Nadia offered.

Jack frowned. "They probably know what cars we drive."

"It's someone else's. We had to get rid of ours."

"Then let's go."

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"So who explains first?" Chase asked once they were on the road.

"We were followed," Chloe said, sitting in the passenger's seat next to Jack. "When we went to breakfast. We decided to go to the safe house – they had already been to my apartment."

"How do you know?" Nadia asked.

Chloe grimaced. "We went back for my laptop. There was a body in the stairwell."

"How did you get out of the cabin before it blew?"

"Jack was all paranoid. Thought he saw tracks in the dirt that weren't ours."

"And I was right," he growled, his eyes glued to the road.

"So he dragged me outside and we hid in the woods. We were really confused when we saw you two, though."

Chase jumped in. "We were out to dinner. When we got to the car…something just didn't feel right. There was a puddle under the tire that I swear wasn't there when we parked. I decided it would be better to get away instead of risking it."

Jack nodded his approval. "I had someone get Kim out of the city. Just in case."

"Who?"

"Tony Almeida."

Chase nodded. "Good. He'll keep her safe."

They all fell silent as they became lost in their own thoughts.

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**Bill and Karen**

They stopped at a rest area on the highway. Karen sat her husband down at a picnic table as she examined his wound. The bullet had just grazed his upper arm, and she ripped the bottom of his t-shirt to wrap it.

"What are we going to do, Bill?" she asked quietly as she worked.

"First I'm going to call Jack Bauer," he said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

"You think Jack is a target too?"

"Jack's always a target." He paused as the listened to the phone ringing.

"Bauer."

"Jack, it's Bill."

"Bill? What's wrong?"

"We were attacked, Jack. In our own home."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, we're fine. We managed to get away. We're at a rest stop on the highway. Any chance you know what's going on?"

"I don't know much, Bill. But Chloe and I were followed and somebody blew up the CTU safe house we were hiding in. Chase Edmunds and Nadia Yassir went there as well when they thought somebody had put a bomb under their car. We're traveling together now."

"My God. Has anybody else been attacked?"

"I don't know. I have Tony moving Kim out as well. We need to figure out what's going on, Bill. This looks big."

"It does. So where do we meet up?"

"Somewhere busy. I want crowds to blend in with. Dark roads and quiet places are only going to make it easier to find us."

"Do you have somewhere in mind?"

"We need to get out of the state."

"What about Las Vegas? No place busier around here."

"Fine. We'll do that. Turn your cell phone off. Only check it every hour or so for messages from myself or Tony. Call us when you get there."

"Where will we meet when we get there?"

"I don't know Vegas very well."

Bill paused. "The Palms. It's a hotel. It's huge and I'm friends with the manager. We'll meet there."

"Alright. Good luck, Bill."

"You too, Jack. You too."

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**Tony and Kim**

"Eat," Tony urged, pushing the food closer to Kim.

She chewed slowly. "Is there a plan?"

"Beyond don't get killed?"

She nodded.

"Not yet."

"I still don't understand why someone would come after me."

"In my line of work we consider this kind of thing a compliment," he grinned. "A sign you're doing your job well. My former line of work," he corrected himself.

"Why did you do it?"

"I didn't have a choice. It was the only way to stay alive."

"Was it worth it?"

He shrugged.

"You don't know?" she asked incredulously.

"I saved your life, so at the moment it seems worth it. Ask me again in a couple of weeks."

"You're not grateful to be alive?"

"I am today."

"How do you do that? How do you fight that hard to save your life and keep fighting if you're not even sure that it's worth it?"

"It isn't easy."

"Maybe it shouldn't be. Maybe it should as hard for you as it is for the people you leave behind."

"I didn't leave anybody," he growled. "Your dad knew, and that's all I had left. I'm not Jack, Kim. I didn't leave you."

"What about Michelle?"

"She's gone," he whispered.

"I'm sorry."

"She died in my arms that day."

Kim reached across the bed and placed her hand on his arm. "I'm so sorry Tony."

"It's not fair," he hissed.

She stayed silent and squeezed his arm.

"It should have been me. She should still be here, she deserves to live. I should have been with her."

When the phone rang they both jumped.

"How is she?" Jack asked.

"She's fine," Tony assured him. "She's right here. Do you want to talk to her?"

"There's no time."

"What's going on?"

"It's more widespread than we thought. There were at least four targets, maybe eight. And that's just the ones we know about."

"Who?"

"Bill Buchanan, Karen Hayes, Chase Edmunds, Nadia Yassir. There was a bomb planted in the safe house Chloe and I were using."

"Is she okay?"

"She's fine. We're all heading to Vegas to try and work out what's going on. Can you and Kim meet us there?"

"Why Vegas?"

"Central location, lots of people, easier to blend in. We think we can hide there easily."

"We're not far," Tony explained. "We should be able to make it by tomorrow."

"We're meeting at the Palms. You'll be the first ones there."

Tony nodded to himself. "We'll see you there," he said, closing the phone.

"Vegas?" Kim asked.

"We have to go there to meet your dad."

"Is it safe?"

"It seems like the best option right now."

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Tony watched Kim out of the corner of his eye as he drove. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"What?" she asked, frowning in confusion.

"I shouldn't have gotten so upset."

She shook her head. "It's fine Tony, really," she said, reaching across the seat to squeeze his hand. "I understand. I mean, maybe not totally, but I do understand."

"So," he asked, needing to change the subject, "have you ever been to Vegas before?"

"Everyone's been to Vegas."

He chuckled. "Everyone?"

She nodded. "This is weird, having a normal conversation with you."

"I'm sorry. We don't have to talk."

"No, not bad. Just," she shrugged, "I don't know. But don't stop talking."

He frowned. "Just a second."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure. It could be nothing."

"Tony."

"I think we're being followed."

"Oh god," she said nervously. "Again. How did they find us?"

"I don't know."

"What are you going to do?"

"We need to find a place to lay low."

"How do we do that and not end up sitting around waiting for someone to kill us?"

"I need you to trust me."


	4. Chapter 4

They stopped at another cheap motel somewhere in Arizona, after Tony was sure he lost the tail and they found another car.

Kim followed him inside and climbed into bed, wincing at the pain in her side. "How do you know they won't find us again?"

Tony sighed heavily, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'm just hoping they don't."

"I still don't understand why they're coming after us."

"It's not just us."

She sat up and regarded him nervously. "Who else?"

"Your dad, Chloe, Bill Buchanan, Karen Hayes. A woman who works for CTU named Nadia Yassir." He hesitated.

"What are you not telling me?" she demanded.

"Chase."

"Are they okay?"

"They're on their way to Vegas."

"But someone could have found them just like they found us."

"It's possible."

She closed her eyes and leaned against the headboard.

"You should sleep," he murmured. "You look exhausted."

She nodded. "I haven't seen him since…since he moved out."

"I'm sorry," he said, taking her hand in his.

"It was a long time ago. I just thought…I guess I thought I wouldn't ever have to see him again."

"What about that guy you were dating, that came with you to CTU?"

"How do you know about him?" she asked, pulling her hand back and wrapping her arms around her body.

"Your dad told me."

"He left too." She started to laugh bitterly. "I can't even keep my shrink, a man I pay to be interested in me, around. Pretty pathetic."

"He wasn't right for you."

"You never even met him."

"I didn't have to."

"I'm so tired," she said quietly.

"Sleep," he urged. "I'll keep watch. If anything happens, I'll get you out of here. I'm gonna keep you safe Kim."

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"Why are we getting off the highway?" Chase demanded as soon as Jack went to take the exit.

"We need to eat."

"And you really think now is the best time to do that?"

"It's been a very long time since Chloe and I had any food. If we're going to have any chance of fighting these people off, we're going to need some energy."

Chase nodded. "You're right, Jack. I'm sorry. I'm just...I'm scared, you know?"

"So am I."

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The diner had been empty and the food good. They ate quickly, none of them comfortable with staying in one place very long. They didn't talk, their eyes shifting around the diner and out the windows as they forced themselves to stay alert. When the meal was over, they paid silently and moved out into the parking lot.

Chase lagged behind Nadia, watching her. Just a little while ago they had been enjoying dinner, joking and flirting like any normal couple. But their government connections had seeped in now, rearing their ugly heads in the form of assassins determined to kill them. He sighed as he realized that it might be awhile before they laughed and joked again.

A sudden idea occurred to him, and he reached out to grab her hand, intending to pull her back and give her a quick kiss before they got on their way again. As he spun her around, a noise broke to his left and Nadia cried out, falling to the ground.

They all dropped immediately, guns drawn. Chase crawled over to Nadia, cradling her body against his and putting pressure on her wound. Blood seeped through his fingers as his panic rose. It had been too long since he'd done this - he wasn't prepared to watch someone die - especially not someone he cared about.

He heard another shot erupt, and his head snapped up as Jack's bullet ripped through the shooter. The older man scrambled over to the body, rifling through the pockets until he found a wallet. He ran back to Chase, kneeling beside Nadia as Chloe joined them.

"Is she alright?"

"She's bleeding an awful lot, Jack."

"Let's get her in the backseat. We need to move. Now."

"Are we taking her to a hospital?" he asked as they carried her across the parking lot.

"We can't. She'll have to wait until we get to Vegas."

"Jack-"

"Dammit, Chase! We take her to a hospital and we could all end up dead - Nadia included." He paused, taking a breath. "Get in the back with her. Keep pressure on the wound. I'll do whatever I can to get us there quickly."

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The car was silent. Chase fought back tears as he continued to put pressure on Nadia's shoulder. He thanked God that he had decided to pull her back at that exact moment - otherwise she'd probably have a bullet through her heart instead.

Chloe sat in the passenger seat, examining the contents of the wallet Jack had grabbed. It was all she could do to keep her mind off her dying friend in the backseat. The identification was probably fake, but she wondered if there were any usable fingerprints on it. If they could get their hands on a forensics kit and a laptop. She turned her eyes to Jack as he flipped open his cell phone.

"Who are you calling?" she asked quietly.

"Bill. I want to make sure they got there safely."

He sighed in relief when the older man answered.

"Buchanan."

"Bill, it's Jack."

"Jack. Where are you? We expected you to be here by now."

"We were attacked again. Look Bill, we're gonna need a back entrance and whatever medical supplies you can find."

"Why? What happened?"

"Nadia's been shot."

Bill closed his eyes. "My God. Is she alright?"

"She's lost a lot of blood. We're not sure." He paused. "Is Kim nearby? Can I talk to her?"

Bill hesitated. "Jack...she and Tony aren't here yet."

"Are you sure? They should have made it before any of us."

"I'm sorry, Jack. They're not here. I tried calling Tony's phone, but no one picked up."

Jack bit back a curse. "Thanks, Bill. We'll see you soon."

Chloe watched him carefully as he closed the phone.

"What's wrong?"

"Kim and Tony never made it to the Palms. We don't know where they are."

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Bill placed the phone on the table, looking up when Karen entered the room.

"I spoke with Jack," he murmured.

"What did he say?"

"Nadia's been injured."

"How badly?"

Bill swallowed. "She was shot. He said they'll need medical supplies and a back entrance to bring her in."

"Shot," Karen breathed, crossing the room to her husband's side. "Who is doing this?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "None of the contacts I've spoken to have had any information. I'm waiting for a few more to call me back."

She squeezed his hand. "The rooms are all set up."

"Still no sign of Tony or Kim?"

"Nothing. Jack hadn't heard anything?"

"No," Bill said tensely.

"I'll go make the arrangements for Nadia," Karen murmured, slipping out of the room.

She collected all the medical supplies she thought, or hoped, that they would need and carried them back to the room. She could hear Bill speaking quietly from the other room and walked through the suite to find him.

She heard him say, "Oh god," in a strangled voice and watched him sink into the chair, his head in his hands as he dropped the phone.

"Bill?" she asked, nervously hurrying across the room to his side. "Bill?"

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Tony surveyed the parking lot through the window before turning back to Kim's sleeping form. He frowned when she moaned in pain softly.

"Kim?" he asked softly.

When she didn't respond he flipped on the light. Her skin was pale and clammy when he touched it. "Kim," he said more urgently, shaking her gently.

She let out another pained moan.

"Kim, open your eyes," he demanded, pulling the blankets off of her body. Blood from the wound in her side had soaked through her shirt. "Kim," he practically screamed as he lifted her body. She was limp in his arms.

"Hmmmmm," she mumbled, barely above a whisper.

"Kim," he repeated, "open your eyes."

"Mmmmsleepy."

"I know you are, but I need you to stay awake."

She was unresponsive again as he carefully lowered her into the car.

"It's gonna be okay," he promised. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'm not losing you."


	5. Chapter 5

Tony pushed open the doors to the emergency room, Kim cradled tenderly in his arms.

"Tony," she said groggily.

"I'm here. I'm right here. We're gonna get you all taken care of."

"Tony," she repeated.

"It's gonna be just fine," he soothed. "I need a doctor," he demanded, banging on the glass at the nurse's station.

The woman's eyes widened and she motioned for him to follow her.

"What happened to her?" she asked.

"Car accident," Tony muttered.

"Tony," Kim whispered.

"I'm right here," he promised, squeezing her hand.

"You need to move sir," another said as the room seemed to fill with medical personnel. "Let us work."

"I'm not leaving her," he growled, still holding onto Kim's hand.

Her eyes opened and darted frantically around the room. "Tony!"

"I'm here, right here," he said squeezing her hand. "They're gonna make you all better Kim."

"I'm scared," she whimpered.

"I know, but you're gonna be fine. You've done so well Kim."

"Sir," the nurse said more firmly, "you need to go."

"Don't leave me," Kim begged.

"I'm not going anywhere."

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"Thank you," Kim said softly after the doctor and nurses had left them alone.

"For what?" Tony asked, still seated at her bedside.

"For bringing me here. For staying with me."

"It's my fault you got hurt."

"How long until we get to leave?" she asked, glancing at a clock on the wall.

"Soon," he promised.

"I hate hospitals."

He chuckled. "Everyone hates hospitals."

"Why are they always gray? Doesn't really make things more cheerful."

He glanced up at the walls. "You have a point."

"I know it sounds strange, but hospitals always make me think of my mom. Of…of how she died. It doesn't even make any sense."

"It doesn't have to make sense."

"I just want to get out of here," she whispered, staring at the floor.

"Soon."

"Do you think whoever's following us has found us yet?"

"Not yet. We'll get out of here before they do."

"You could have left me. Saved yourself."

"I couldn't do that."

"I'm slowing you down."

"I'm not leaving you," he said firmly.

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Bill met them at the service entrance. They moved quickly, Chase carrying Nadia as gently as he could. The ride up in the elevator was tense and silent as Chloe focused on keeping pressure on the wound and Jack and Bill looked on in worry. When the doors finally opened again, Bill rushed out first, leading them to the rooms that he and Karen had set up. His wife stood immediately as they came bursting through the door.

"My God," she whispered, her eyes widening at all the blood.

Chase moved to the bed, setting Nadia down on the mattress softly. She moaned quietly, her face contorting in pain.

"Alright, everybody out," Jack ordered gruffly.

Chase's head snapped up. "What are you talking about?"

"I need to get the bullet out. I need the rest of you out of the room."

The younger man got right up in his face. "Let me do it."

"No."

"You're not the boss here, Jack."

"You're too emotionally involved."

"She's my girlfriend. I'm not leaving this room."

"There's no way-"

"Jack."

He turned his head to see Bill standing next to them.

"Jack, there's something I need to tell you. Privately."

"Right now?"

"Right now."

Jack nodded. "Fine."

"Chloe and I will stay," Karen interjected.

Chase turned to argue.

"You'll need help," she said, cutting him off. "We're not leaving."

He hesitated for only a moment before nodding. Bill took a hold of Jack's arm and led him out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind them.

When they were gone, Chase turned to face Nadia.

"Alright, I'm going to need her shirt off."

Karen took a pair of scissors off the nightstand and began working on Nadia's shirt. Meanwhile, Chase pulled a pair of tweezers out of the medical supplies that she had already sterilized.

"I need you two to hold her down," he said quietly.

Nadia woke up halfway through. Chase was digging around in her shoulder with the tweezers, focusing on finding the bullet and removing it as soon as possible. She tried to yell, but Karen had placed a rolled-up facecloth in her mouth, muffling her cries and keeping her from biting her own tongue. Chloe held onto her legs, using all her weight as her friend tried to kick.

"Shhh, Nadia," Karen soothed, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "We have to get the bullet out. I need you to stay as still as you can."

Tears streaming down her face, Nadia nodded, stilling her body. As Chase continued to hunt for the bullet, her tears increased, the effort of not squirming evident in her expression. An agonizing minute later, he slowly removed the piece of metal, placing it on a towel that Karen had set out.

Chase moved away then, letting Karen clean the wound and start the stitches. He stared down at his bloody hands, sinking into a nearby chair when his legs threatened to drop him right there on the floor. The room around him blacked out as his vision was filled with the red liquid. His breathing started to come in short gasps as the reality of what he had just done came crashing down on him.

"Chase?"

His head shot up at the sound of her voice. Nadia stared at him, her face still wet with tears.

"Thank you," she whispered.

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Jack paced the hotel room nervously like a caged animal while Bill watched him.

"You said we needed to talk," Jack muttered. "You have information?"

"I've been touching base with some of my old contacts. Trying to find out anything I can about who might be behind all of this."

"What did you find?"

"Morris O'Brian is dead."

"When?"

"Two days ago."

"How did it happen?"

"An apparent mugging on his way home from a bar."

"Chloe…"

"We need to tell her," Bill nodded.

"You think it was the same people?"

"The timing seems a bit too convenient for it to be otherwise."

"Is there more?"

"Curtis is dead too."

Jack collapsed in the nearest chair.

"How?"

"Apparent car jacking at a gas station. There was a lot of blood at the scene, he shot one of his attackers."

"But no body."

"No evidence," Bill sighed. "No clues."

"It's me," Jack said quietly. "This has got to be about me. They're coming after all the people related to me."

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He led her out into the hall, one arm around her waist to give her support. They moved slowly as exhaustion settled on both of them, the events of the past couple of days weighing heavily. Kim leaned her head on his shoulder, her earlier anger and frustration completely forgotten. Tony's eyes swept the hallway out of habit, his brain barely registering the things he was seeing. His gaze settled briefly on a man leaning against the wall. He was talking on a cell phone and his left arm was in a sling. A security guard stood further down the way, his thumbs hooked in the waistband of pants that were slightly too short for him. Tony saw all this and dismissed it almost immediately, his head already turning to look in the other direction.

His brain caught up a second later and saved their lives by mere centimeters. Tony tightened his grip on Kim's waist and pulled her backwards, bringing them both to the ground as a loud pop exploded beside them. The bullet ripped through the spot where Kim's head had been before lodging itself in the far wall. Tony had his gun out instantly, and he slid across the floor to take cover around a corner, Kim hurrying behind him. No other shots were fired, and he peeked around the wall to catch his bearings. As he peered into the now-empty hallway, he saw one nurse remaining behind the nurses station. She turned to look at him, a 9mm berretta appearing as she raised her arm and took aim. Tony took cover as the bullets rained around them, and then fired back, the woman going down as one of his shots found its target.

Pain flared through his arm suddenly and he drew himself back around the wall. He looked down to stare at the blood that was seeping down his arm. Footsteps sounded to the right and he turned his head to look, eyes widening when he saw a doctor take three bullets to the chest. The other shooter was moving toward them, but Tony couldn't force his arm to raise his weapon again.

Then Kim was beside him, taking his gun and aiming it at the security guard that Tony had noticed earlier. The man was coming closer, an evil glint in his eye as he advanced on them. Hands shaking slightly, Kim pulled on the trigger, the kickback of the gun rocking through her entire body. She held fast, squeezing off three more shots.

Tony stared in shock as the guard hit the floor, three bullets lodged in his chest. He turned his attention to Kim, who was shaking uncontrollably. Reaching out with his uninjured arm, he pulled her against his body, holding her close, whispering comforting words to her. She lifted her eyes to his, staring at him for a moment as she tried to assimilate everything that had just happened. Then her gaze fell on the blood still flowing down his arm. She stuck the gun in the waistband of her jeans and ripped the sleeve of his shirt to get a better look at the wound.

"It looks like it just grazed you," she murmured.

"You saved us."

"You took out the crazy nurse."

"We need to get out of here."

"Are you sure you don't need to see a doctor?"

Tony nodded. "We need to leave. Now. Before another assassin shows up. They were disguised this time. We'll have no way of knowing who to trust."

Kim hooked her arms under his armpits and hoisted him up, grunting with the effort. They heard people reentering the war zone that had once been a hospital hallway, and they slowly ambled in the opposite direction, moving out of the building and into the parking lot.


	6. Chapter 6

Chloe quietly let herself into the room where Bill and Jack were. Neither man was speaking, and she studied their faces for a long moment.

"Chase got the bullet out," she reported.

"Good," Bill murmured.

"What happened?" she asked nervously.

Bill swallowed before facing her. "Curtis is dead."

She turned away from him and rubbed her eyes, missing the look that passed between Bill and Jack.

"That's not all," he continued. "Chloe…" he hesitated and she turned around to search his face. "Morris was killed too."

She didn't hear the rest of what he was saying. She was barely aware of her own body, of the sudden weakness in her limbs, the dizzying sensation that almost overwhelmed her. She spun around blindly and ran out of the room, like it would make a difference, like if she could run far enough she could escape all of it.

She stumbled at the door, desperate to escape. She didn't even feel like she could breathe, she needed to get out. She felt Jack's arms around her, pulling her against his body. He was strong, he was safe, but she tried to resist, tried to fight.

She gave in, finally, and let him pull her against his chest. He sat on the floor and dragged her into his lap. He rocked her slowly back and forth, his fingers combing through her hair, and whispered soothing words in her ear.

She started to cry, huge, gasping sobs that shook her body. Her tears soaked through his clothing to his skin. Her fingers twisted in his shirt as she clung to him.

Eventually she quieted, still resting against his body, still shaky, and suddenly exhausted.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair. "I'm so sorry Chloe."

"Did he suffer? Do you know?"

"It's possible," Jack sighed.

"How did it happen?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"I have to know."

"He was beaten Chloe."

She sucked in a breath.

"They made it look like a robbery," he continued.

"He must have been so scared," she whispered.

Jack silently hugged her more tightly.

"I don't understand," she said, as fresh tears ran down her face. "Who's doing this?"

"I think it's someone coming after me," Jack said quietly, unable to look at her face.

"You think this is your fault," she supplied.

"They're coming after the people I care about. Or the people who are important to the people I care about."

"It's not necessarily you," she protested. "It could be me just as easily."

"Even if it was you," he sighed, "whatever you would have done to cause someone to come after you, it was probably something I asked you to do."

"I'm actually quite capable of pissing people off all on my own Jack."

"This has happened before. It's always me."

"Stop it," she snapped. "Just stop Jack. I am not going down this road with you. My husband just died." She paused. "Ex-husband. Look at me Jack," she demanded, not speaking again until he complied. "I do not blame you. Even if they're coming after you, even if they're coming after all of us to get to you, I do not blame you. The things that you've done…we all believe in you. We believe in what you've done, in what we did to help you. This is not your fault. Please believe that."

His fingers combed slowly through her hair. "You really believe that?"

She nodded. "I do."

"We should get back," he said, helping her to her feet and then standing. "See what we need to do."

"I need a laptop."

He took her hand and led her back into the main rooms. "Then we'll get you one."

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Chase was sitting next to Nadia's bed when she started to stir. She stared at him silently before a tear rolled down her cheek.

He stood and moved closer to her, wiping it away tenderly with the pad of his thumb. "You should be sleeping."

"I can't," she said hoarsely.

He frowned, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed.

"Too much pain," she explained.

"I'm sorry."

She laced her fingers through his. "You saved my life. Am I going to be okay?"

"I think so," he said softly. "You lost a lot of blood. You need to rest."

She nodded. "No marathons."

He brought her hand slowly to his lips and kissed her soft skin. "No marathons."

She winced again.

"Tell me what I can do," Chase pleaded.

"Distract me."

"And you'll try to sleep?"

She nodded slowly. "Tell me about our next date."

He smiled and stretched out next to her, careful not to disturb her.

"When we get out of here," he murmured as he combed through her hair, "I'm going to take you to my place."

"That's not a date, that's a booty call."

"I'm hurt," he protested. "I have only the best intentions Miss Yassir. You didn't let me finish."

"Go on," she said softly.

"I'm going to take you to my place and cook you dinner."

"You cook?"

"I'm a real renaissance man."

"What are you going to cook for me?"

"If the weathers nice I'll grill some steaks, we'll sit outside in the back. We can eat back there, watch the sunset and the stars come out under some blankets. If it's raining, I'll cook you pasta. We'll turn off all the lights and use candles. And then I'll take you upstairs and then I'll kiss every inch of your skin."

Nadia's eyes were closed and her breathing was easy and even.

"I love you Nadia Yassir," he whispered, pressing his lips gently to her forehead.

"I love you," she murmured sleepily.

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They changed cars again, and Kim drove them to another rundown motel where they wouldn't be noticed. She knew they were close enough to make it to Vegas, but she didn't like driving at night and she wanted to clean up Tony's wound. Glancing over at him, she saw that his face was pale, but he was still conscious, and Kim took that to be a good sign.

She led him into the room, making sure that the door was locked behind them. Bringing him over to the bed, she sat him down on the end of it before moving to the windows and shutting all of the curtains. She wasn't as good at this as Tony was, but she was determined to keep them as safe as she could. He had already done so much to keep her alive, and she knew that he didn't have to.

Before the shootout in the hospital, Tony had filled a duffel bag with medical supplies, predicting that this wouldn't be the last time that one of them was injured. She had managed to keep it with them and for that she was grateful. Turning her back to the windows, she moved closer to him.

"Take your shirt off," she ordered.

Tony's head snapped up. "Excuse me?"

"I need to clean the wound. So the shirt needs to go."

"I'm fine."

"Just do it, Tony."

He sighed, realizing that she was right and there was no point in arguing. Wincing slightly, he pulled off his shirt. For some reason, he now found it difficult to meet her eyes. Kim pulled out the antiseptic and some bandages. Moving to stand in front of him, she pondered how best to do this. Sitting on the bed, Tony was an awkward height compared to her, and bending down over his arm would hurt her back. On the other hand, sitting in a chair wouldn't give her easy access either. She rolled her eyes.

"You're not going to like this, but you just need to deal with it."

"Not going to like what?" he asked suspiciously.

"This."

Any response Tony was going to make was cut off as Kim placed her knees on either side of his hips and lowered herself into his lap. His hands automatically came to rest on her waist as he swallowed hard.

"Kim?" he asked hoarsely.

"Just shut up. And don't get any funny ideas. This is the only way I can reach your wound easily and keep you from moving when it hurts. It's not my fault you're a weird height."

He frowned. "It's not my fault you're short."

She stuck her tongue out at him and he found himself swallowing hard again. The antiseptic stung as she cleaned the wound, but he sat as still as he could. Her proximity was starting to affect him, and he knew that if he squirmed, things would only get worse and more obvious. She worked on him with a determination that he found endearing as she worked to wash all of the blood from his arm and to clean the cut thoroughly. He breathed a sigh of relief when she finally put the bandage on, knowing that she would soon be off of him.

But Kim didn't move. She brought one hand up to cup his chin and turn his head slightly. Her fingers danced against his forehead before she turned his head to face her again.

"You cut your head," she said quietly.

He reached up his hand and his fingers came away with some blood on them. "It must have happened at the hospital when we dodged the first bullet."

Kim nodded, her attention now completely on this new wound. She cleaned it just as thoroughly as the last one, her hands lingering as she placed a band-aid over it. Her fingers slid down to his cheeks and she held his gaze steadily.

"Kim…"

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For what?"

"For how I acted earlier. You were just trying to help me. I had no right to be mean to you."

He shrugged. "You've been through a lot, Kim. You have every right to be angry and confused."

"Not with you though."

"I never saw you after you left CTU. And then I died and showed up on your doorstep another couple years later. You had no reason to trust me."

"I know you, Tony. I know you only do what's right."

"Not always," he whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from hers.

"It's not your fault, you know."

"What?"

"Michelle. It's not your fault that you survived and she didn't. You can't keep punishing yourself."

"I'm afraid…"

"Of what?"

"If I stop…I might forget."

"You'll never forget her, Tony. But that doesn't mean you can't have a future."

She leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. He knew he shouldn't, but he kissed her back, his hands tightening their hold on her waist. Their kisses were slow at first, Tony nudging her lips open with his tongue. She moaned deeply, her knees clenching around his thighs and her arms wrapping around his neck as she pulled him even closer.

When they pulled back to breathe, he leaned his forehead against hers. He knew they shouldn't be doing this, that Jack would kill him on the spot if he ever found out. But he couldn't deny that he felt drawn to Kim in a way he had never expected. Their experiences in the past two days had brought them closer, and he suddenly found himself unwilling to walk away.

"I thought you said not to get any funny ideas," he laughed.

"I didn't say I couldn't."

"True," he breathed as he captured her lips again.

She pushed him down onto the bed, her body moving slowly over his. He groaned, his hands venturing under her shirt and up her sides. Then he stopped suddenly.

"What?" Kim asked, worry in her eyes.

"Your side."

"They gave me pain meds. I'm fine. Just don't be too rough."

He nodded and pulled her back down, careful to not put pressure on her injury. Her hands roamed over his chest and down to his belt, making quick work of it before his hands stopped her.

"You still have too many clothes on," he smiled.

As gently as he could, he lifted up her shirt, revealing her breasts to him. His grin broadened as he brought his hands up to touch them. Kim moaned, pressing herself against him. He found himself enthralled with the reactions he was eliciting from her, and the very thought made him harder. She could feel his arousal and she smiled wickedly at him. Reaching behind her, she undid her bra clasp and pulled it off slowly before throwing it to the floor.

Tony sat up then, cradling her face in his hands and kissing her softly. They sat like that for a few minutes, breathing each other in and letting their hands run over each other. Then he was laying her down slowly, letting his body hover over hers. He kissed his way down her body until he reached her jeans, deftly undoing the button and removing her pants and underwear in one movement. He stared at her for a moment, running his hands up and down her thighs, feeling her shiver at his touch.

"Tony, please."

He nodded, standing up and ridding himself of his own pants and boxers. Then he was back with her, propping himself up on his elbows too keep from pressing against her injured side. Leaning down, he kissed her deeply, reaching down to thrust a finger inside of her. Kim's hips bucked against him as he moved against her clit, her desire for him mounting. He brought her to the edge, smiling at the whimper that escaped her lips when he pulled his hand away. Bringing his mouth her ear, he whispered clearly.

"I want you."

Kim nodded. "I need you."

He kissed her again as he pushed into her slowly. She moaned into his mouth at the feel of him, as he then pulled out and thrust into her again. They found a rhythm quickly as they held each other tight, calling each other's names on breathless whispers. They moved faster, their need becoming desperate as Kim wrapped her legs around his waist and pushed him even deeper. Her muscles tightened and she called his name loudly as she clenched around him. She felt him come with her, his body sagging against hers as he struggled to keep himself from crushing her. Kissing her again, he rolled to the side, pulling her against him gently.

"Hmmm," Kim moaned contentedly as she snuggled against him.

"Rest," he whispered, running his fingers through her hair. "Tomorrow we'll meet up with everybody in Vegas."

"You'll be here, right? In the morning?"

"I'm not going anywhere, Kim. I'll hold you until you wake up. You're safe."

She nodded and they both drifted off to sleep.

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Bill took Karen's hand in his as his phone started to ring.

"I have some information," the man on the other end reported.

"What?" Bill asked nervously, squeezing his wife's hand.

"There have been more deaths."

"Who?"

"Adam Kaufman and Sheri Rothenberg. Kaufman was shot inside a library. Rothenberg died in a car bombing."

"Do the police have any suspects?"

"No suspects, no evidence, no witness. Whoever's behind this knows what they're doing."

"Thank you," he said before closing the phone.

"What is it?" Karen asked.

"Adam and Sheri were both killed."

Karen stared out the window, grimly silent for a long moment. "Well," she finally said, "that certainly changes things. They aren't coming after Jack. Someone out there is hunting down CTU agents."


	7. Chapter 7

When Kim opened her eyes sunlight was filling the small room and Tony was watching her.

"I think we probably need to get on the road," he murmured. "We need to get to Vegas, find out what's going on."

She nodded. "Okay," she said, pushing herself into a sitting position. "How are you?"

He smiled reassuringly at her. "You make an excellent nurse."

"I'm glad."

"How's your side?"

"Fine."

The silence that settled between them felt awkward.

"We have to talk about it," Kim sighed. "We have to talk about last night."

"If you want to forget about it," he started.

"I don't," she said quickly. "I just…I'm not sure what it means yet, Tony. I…I don't know. But I know it means something."

He nodded. "Then we'll figure it out."

"Okay," she said softly. "You're right, we should go."

"Kim," he said, grabbed her hand as she got out of bed, "are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine," she promised. "I just…I'll be better when this is all over."

"Then let's get to Vegas. That should put us one step closer."

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Jack paced the room as Bill explained everything they'd found out.

"How do you know it's CTU?" Chase asked. "Isn't it possible we all worked on bringing down the same people?"

"I can find out," Chloe offered, taking the laptop Karen set in front of her. "I can cross check things."

"I want to look for Kim," Jack spoke up.

"Where?" Bill asked.

"Just here. For now," Jack added. "I want to go downstairs, see if I find her anywhere."

They all nodded slowly.

"Come with me," he said to Chloe.

"I have work to do."

"I can do it," Nadia offered. "I need to do something," she muttered when she saw their concerned looks. "I'll sit here and see what I can find out."

"Please," Jack pleaded.

Chloe stood up and nodded. "If you need something, if you get stuck…"

"I'll call you," Nadia assured her.

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"Why me?" Chloe asked as they left the elevator and walked out into the casino.

"What?"

"Why did you want me to come with you? You could have searched down here just as easily without me."

Jack shrugged. "A few reasons…for one, I like your company. For another, until this whole thing is over, I'm not going to be comfortable with letting you out of my sight. And…and you calm me. If I don't find Kim and Tony down here, I'm just going to get more worried and desperate. And I might do something stupid. But with you here…you can keep an eye on me. Tell me if I'm being stupid or if I'm putting us all in danger."

He stopped, his face coloring a little as though embarrassed at his little speech. Impulsively, Chloe reached over and squeezed his hand quickly. He looked over at her, smiling warmly.

"So…do we just walk around and see if we can find them?"

Jack sighed. "I guess. I didn't really think this through. I just couldn't sit up there and do nothing while my daughter is in danger."

"It's okay. We needed to get out of there anywhere. If we spend too much time locked in those rooms with everybody, we're more likely to kill each other."

Neither of them really expected to find Kim or Tony just walking through the casino. They moved at a leisurely pace, both enjoying the anonymity of the crowds and the presence of the other. They walked the whole length of the casino, looking in every room, but there was no sign of Kim and Tony. Finally, Jack sighed.

"I guess we might as well head back upstairs. There's nothing we can do now but wait."

"You hate waiting."

"So do you. But I have no idea where they are. They could be anywhere between L.A. and here, and that's a lot of ground to cover. So we wait."

Chloe nodded and moved closer to him, slipping her hand into his. He looked at her sharply, confused by her sudden show of affection.

"Just act normal," she said quietly, her voice low.

"What's going on?"

"I just saw somebody I recognized."

"From where?"

"The restaurant where we have breakfast."

"He's a long way from home."

"I started noticing him at breakfast about a month ago. He was always there before us and never left until after we did. Read the paper."

"And he's here?"

"To our left."

Jack casually scanned the room, looking for a familiar face. Eventually his gaze rested on someone whose features tickled at his memory.

"Tall? Dark hair and blue shirt?"

She nodded. "That's him."

"You think he's been following us."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

They started to move a little faster, weaving in and out of the slot machines that surrounded them. Jack clutched her hand tightly, afraid that if this came to a chase they might be separated. He couldn't lose her.

They ducked into another room, this one being devoted to table games like blackjack and poker. Jack immediately steered them along the wall and toward another entrance on the other side of the room. As they moved through the opening, he glanced back over his shoulder and saw the man following them move casually into the room.

"Did we lose him?" Chloe asked in a whisper.

"I'm not sure. I don't think we can count on it."

He pulled her closer to him and let go of her hand, moving his arm around her shoulders instead. When she stiffened slightly, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I'm keeping you close, Chloe. I refuse to lose you. Besides, maybe this way we can be mistaken for just another couple. If we start running, we'll be easier to find."

She nodded and relaxed into him. Looking up, she saw a cleaning man moving toward him, and she frowned in confusion when Jack maneuvered them so that they would bump into him slightly. When they made contact, Jack apologized profusely, smiling at the man and stumbling just a bit, as though he were drunk. The custodian bobbed his head and had a look on his face that suggested he dealt with drunk gamblers on a regular basis and he was used to being knocked into. Jack moved them out of the casino and down a hall, no longer stumbling or smiling.

"What was that all about?"

Jack opened his fist and showed her the keys he had nabbed.

"We need a place to hide and I'm thinking a locked closet works best for now."

She tried to protest, but Jack had already found the cleaning closet and unlocked the door. He ushered her in, ignoring her obvious distaste for the plan and then followed her, closing the door securely behind them.

"I don't like this, Jack," she whispered hoarsely.

"It'll be fine, Chloe."

"Can we at least turn a light on?"

She could feel him shake his head in the dark. "I don't want to risk anybody noticing it."

They stood there quietly then. The closet was pretty small and full of cleaning supplies, forcing them to stand right against each other. Chloe's automatic response was to cross her arms, but she couldn't do that with Jack's chest mere inches from hers. She sighed, fidgeting as she tried to focus on steadying her breathing and keeping her thoughts away from just how small the closet was.

Jack noticed her discomfort immediately. He suddenly wondered if she was claustrophobic. Regardless, they needed a place to hide, and this was there only chance at the moment. But as time dragged on and the heat in the closet increased, he noticed that her breathing grew faster and heavier and he could feel the anxiety coming off of her in waves.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, reaching out a hand to rest on her arm.

She jumped at the touch. "I don't like confined spaces," she said tersely.

"I'm sorry, Chloe."

"I know, I know. We have no choice. I get that. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

He smiled at her even though he knew she couldn't see it. Reaching out, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body against his, rubbing slow circles across her back. She tensed at first, unsure of how to react. But his presence had an effect on her and she began to calm down, her breathing becoming steadier. Closing her eyes, she let her arms snake around his back and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome." He paused. "I have a confession to make."

"What?"

"I'm afraid of the dark."

She grunted. "Liar."

"I'm serious. Graham used to make fun of me for it. I always had to have a nightlight on as a kid."

"You were a kid. I'm sure you're not afraid of the dark now."

"I got over it…until China."

He felt her raise head to look at him.

"I'm so sorry, Jack."

He shrugged. "I haven't slept in the total dark since I got back. I tried to, at first…but I couldn't sleep. I just lay there shaking and hearing things in the dark."

Chloe rested her head against him again and moved her hands to rub his back, giving back whatever comfort she could.

"But it's okay now," he continued quietly. "You're here. And I know I'm okay."

He hugged her tightly. "Just a little while longer, Chloe, and then we'll head upstairs."

She nodded and hugged him back fiercely.

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"Lennox."

"Tom, it's Karen Hayes."

"Karen? It's been a long time. How are you?"

"Not good, actually. Tom, I need your help."

"What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath. "Someone is after me. And not just me."

"What do you mean?"

"Tom, somebody has been killing CTU agents, both past and present. I have confirmation of quite a few deaths already, and I'm in hiding with other agents who have had attempts made on their life. Somebody is systematically going after us."

"But…you were barely at CTU. You were Homeland."

"I know. But that apparently doesn't matter."

"And Bill? Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's with me."

"Where are you, Karen? I'll send someone to come get you and bring you to safety."

"No. I'm sorry, Tom. But I have no way of knowing if somebody in the White House is in on this. For now, I think it's better that we stay in hiding."

"What do you need from me?"

"I need you to check on the status of other CTU agents. See how many of them have been killed."

"Do you want me to bring this to the President's attention?"

"Not yet. Not until we know more and know who we can trust. If the wrong person finds out that you've been in contact with me, it could be deadly for the both of us."

"Alright, I'll start looking into it."

"Thank you. Have you heard anything at all that might suggest the government is involved? Even the faintest rumor that something big was going on?"

Tom paused. "There is one rumor. I'm not sure it's connected, though."

"I'll take anything at this point, Tom."

"I've had word that a new task force has been set up under a senator's watch. But I haven't been able to find out which senator or what the goal of the task force is. I doubt it's to purge a government agency, though."

"As do I. But it's something to think about. Thank you, Tom."

"Can I reach you at this number with my findings?"

"No. I'll call you in a couple days."

"Alright."

"Thank you again."

"Good luck, Karen."

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Bill watched his wife as she hung up the phone.

"Did he know anything?"

She sighed. "There's rumors of a new task force under one of the senator's. But he hasn't determined which senator or their purpose. It's not much, but it could be a lead."

"You think the government could really be behind this?"

"You know as well as I do, Bill, that they are capable of some of the most heinous acts imaginable. I can't fathom the reasoning for it, but I also can't shake the feeling that it has to be government-sponsored. Who else would have these kinds of resources?"

Bill nodded. "I know. I just don't like it."

Karen moved across the room and embraced her husband, holding onto him for a long while.

"I'm scared," she whispered into his chest.

"I am too," he replied, running his fingers through her hair. "I told Nadia and Chase that we were going to meet an informant of mine."

She pulled away and nodded. "Alright. Let's go then."

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"Found anything?" Chase asked, wrapping a blanket around Nadia's shoulders.

"Not yet," she muttered, squinting at the screen. "Your theory, that we all worked on the same case somehow…it's not very likely, is it?"

He sighed. "No."

"Do you think it's some kind of organization that we took down?"

"Somebody hates CTU," he muttered.

"Did you know any of them?" she asked softly.

"Morris."

"Of course," she murmured.

"I met Manning a few times."

She smiled sadly at the mention of his name.

"He was a friend of yours," Chase murmured.

She nodded. "He was a good guy."

"He meant a lot to Chloe too."

"Do you think she's okay? I mean…Morris…I know things didn't work but…" Nadia trailed off.

"I hope so," he murmured.

She turned back to the computer screen. "That's weird."

"What?"

"I hacked into CTU's mainframe."

"Okay."

"There's a code…it shouldn't be there."

"What's it do?"

"I'm trying to figure it out."

He looked over her shoulder at the screen. "Those are the personnel files."

She nodded. "Everything you need to know about CTU agents past and present. I thought it would be a good place to start, because if you wanted to track us all down…you'd have to have that kind of information."

"And someone else looked at them?"

"It's much more than that."

"What?"

"Someone planted a code in our system, sending these files off the CTU mainframe and to another computer."

"Where?"

"I don't know," she said, her fingers moving quickly across the keys.

"Why didn't somebody find it?"

She shrugged. "Nobody looked in the right place."

They both jumped when the door to the suite opened. Kim and Tony stepped quietly into the room.

Nadia's eyes widened as she took them both in. "Are you okay?"

Tony nodded. "We hit a few roadblocks."

"Is my dad here?" Kim whispered.

"He's downstairs looking for you," Nadia explained.

"I'll go find him," Chase said.

Nadia reached out and grabbed his hand. "Stay," she commanded.

Kim watched the two of them, stepped back, closer to Tony.

"I'm sorry," Kim sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Who are you?"

"This is Nadia," Chase explained. "She's…she's my girlfriend."

Kim nodded dully. "You work with my father?"

"Sort of. I mean, I did," Nadia explained.

An awkward uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

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Tony watched Kim as she exited the shower and dressed in the clothes Nadia had given her. She crossed the room and climbed onto the bed next to him. They could hear voices quietly coming from the other room.

"Was that hard for you?" he asked.

"It was weird."

"I'm sorry."

She sighed. "It was a long time ago."

"Do you love him?"

"I don't know. I don't think so, not exactly. Not anymore."

The door to the room opened and Jack walked in, moving to Kim and pulling her into a hug. He frowned when she stiffened.

"You're hurt," he said softly.

"It's healing."

He turned to Tony. "You said she was fine."

"I didn't want you to worry."

Jack turned back to Kim. "Are you really okay?"

She nodded. "We had to go to a hospital though," she said softly. "They found us there. Tony got shot."

"Thank you," Jack murmured. "For saving her life. For getting her here."

Kim relaxed in her father's embrace. "I couldn't have made it without him."

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At first Bill hadn't been able to decide whether to set the meeting up somewhere dark and private or bright and crowded. Both had their advantages and disadvantages, and he took a long time weighing the options. Finally he had decided on somewhere in the center of the city, where he and Karen would be surrounded by people and have plenty of exits open to them. He just didn't feel comfortable trusting anybody but the agents with him at this point.

His informant was already there when he and Karen got to the fountain situated in the middle of the plaza. The man was sitting on the edge, his eyes scanning the crowds around them. They moved toward him confidently, and he saw them approaching. Standing up, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and waited for them to get close.

"Glad to see you two are still alive," he commented when they stopped in front of him.

"It hasn't been easy, I can tell you that," Bill replied. "Do you have any information for me?"

"In a manner of speaking," he answered somewhat evasively.

Bill was suspicious immediately. "What do you mean?"

Without warning there were men behind them, blocking any means of escape and pushing guns against their backs. One reached around and disarmed Bill, removing the gun that he was hiding under his shirt and in his ankle holster.

"I'm sorry, Bill," the informant apologized.

"What the hell is going on?" Bill demanded.

He shrugged. "There's a reward out on your head. They want to kill you personally, otherwise you'd already be dead. But they're willing to pay a handsome amount to anyone who brings you in. It was too tempting to pass up."

"You bastard," Karen spat out. "Where are you taking us?"

"To the man in charge, of course. He'll pay me, and do with you as he sees fit. Now, I suggest you two just come along quietly. Otherwise things will get…unpleasant."

Not seeing any other way out, the couple followed him as he moved into the crowd, the guns behind them keeping them in line as they furiously tried to think of a way to escape.


	8. Chapter 8

Karen's mind was racing as she and Bill were led to a couple of black SUV's in a nearby parking lot. The men holding them captive split into two groups, forcing her into a different vehicle than her husband. The cars started immediately and they were on the road, moving slowly with the traffic around them.

They hadn't told any of their friends the exact location of the meet with the informant. Bill had seen no reason to – he had known this man for ten years and he had never steered him wrong before. What would the others do when they didn't come back soon? They would probably call them, trying to reach them before they let themselves panic.

A sudden thought chilled her. Their captors hadn't taken their cell phones. If they were to ring while they were meeting with the man in charge, he would make them answer, make them lure their friends into the same trap. Karen shook her head slightly. She wouldn't let that happen. No matter what fate they faced, she wouldn't lead these men to the other agents.

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Bill wondered why they hadn't blindfolded them. He had kept his eyes glued to their surroundings as they drove across the city, memorizing the exact route that they took. When the vehicles came to a stop, his kidnappers pulled him out of the car roughly and he looked up to see that they were at the back entrance of a large hotel. More sure of his location now, he moved his head until he could find Karen, his mouth curling into the smallest of smiles when he saw that she was still alright. She returned the smile, nodding at him slightly in an attempt to reassure him that everything would be okay.

They went through a service door and into the nearest elevator. Bill assumed that they would be going up to a penthouse suite, where they would finally meet the person behind all this. He was surprised when his ex-informant pushed a button labeled 'SB', and the elevator began moving lower. Things were not going at all how he had expected them to.

When the doors opened, they found themselves facing a long corridor. The couple was marched down it quickly, toward the door at the very end. The informant opened the door and ushered them into the large empty room beyond. It was then that Bill realized why they hadn't been blindfolded. No one was worried about them knowing this location because they wouldn't be around to tell anybody about it later. This was intended as their last stop.

"I apologize for the wait, but Richard had a couple of things to attend to before coming down to meet you."

"Richard?"

"The man in charge."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a last name," Bill prodded.

"I think I'll just let him explain everything. I wasn't paid to give you information."

"No. Only to betray us and hand us over to be murdered in cold blood," he shot back.

"I already apologized for that, Bill. I need the money."

"Like hell you do."

"Fine. I wanted the money. Do semantics really matter here?"

"I hope you burn in hell."

"I probably will. But not for a long time yet."

Bill seethed, but could think of nothing else to say to the man. He silently berated himself for ever having trusted him, for not telling Jack and the others exactly where the meeting was being held. Now they were trapped with almost no hope for survival. As he looked at Karen, his eyes began to sting. This whole thing would be almost bearable if she weren't in danger as well. He tried to give her another smile, but his mouth refused to curve upward at all.

She held his gaze, seemingly trying to tell him something with her eyes. He watched in confusion as she moved one of her hands to her stomach, her fingers inching under her shirt as she apparently scratched at her skin. When her hand came away, he saw the faintest glint of metal in her closed fist. Raising his eyes to hers again, he saw her nod at him slightly. He returned the gesture, a sudden hope flaring in his chest. Even if they didn't make it out of the room alive, they wouldn't be butchered silently. Balling his right hand into a fist, he readied himself.

Karen moved quickly. She pressed the release button on the switchblade in her hand and rammed the knife backwards, into the side of the man holding a gun to her back. He dropped his gun suddenly, and she turned around, slamming her knee into his crotch. As he crumpled to the ground, she picked his weapon up and spun to face her husband's ex-informant.

As soon as Karen had acted, Bill had jabbed his elbow back into his captor's solar plexus, causing him to grunt and fall backwards. Bill turned around and slammed his fist into the man's face. He pulled back for another hit, but the other man had pulled out his own knife and slashed at him. Bill grabbed his wrist to keep him from reaching his upper body, and the two struggled against each other.

He had completely forgotten about the third man in the room. As he fought for his life, his informant raised his weapon, aiming at the back of his head. His finger slid along the trigger and he went to fire.

Three shots erupted and the informant fell to the ground, dead. The man underneath him distracted, Bill gained the upper hand in the struggle with his captor and slammed the knife up into his chest, breathing a sigh of relief as the other man slumped to the floor. Looking up, he saw his wife standing nearby, the gun still in her hand. Bill pushed himself up slowly, wincing at some sore spots. He walked over to Karen, gently taking the gun out of her hand.

"You saved my life," he said quietly.

She didn't say anything. Bill noticed that her hands were shaking and he took them in his, pulling her against his body.

"It's okay," he whispered.

"I've never killed a man before, Bill."

He stroked her hair. "I know. But you had to. They were going to kill us."

She nodded, pulling back slightly and placing a soft kiss on his lips. "We need to get out of here."

Bill sighed. "It would be nice to know who this Richard is."

"Bill," she said firmly. "It's too risky. We need to leave and get back to the others. They need to know what's happened."

Nodding reluctantly, he stripped the dead men of their weapons. "You're right. Here," he handed her gun back. "We might need this later. It would be better if we were both armed."

Hesitating slightly, she took the gun. Then they left the room quietly, making sure that the door was closed and secured behind them before moving toward the elevator and freedom.

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Karen's mind was racing as she and Bill were led to a couple of black SUV's in a nearby parking lot. The men holding them captive split into two groups, forcing her into a different vehicle than her husband. The cars started immediately and they were on the road, moving slowly with the traffic around them.

They hadn't told any of their friends the exact location of the meet with the informant. Bill had seen no reason to – he had known this man for ten years and he had never steered him wrong before. What would the others do when they didn't come back soon? They would probably call them, trying to reach them before they let themselves panic.

A sudden thought chilled her. Their captors hadn't taken their cell phones. If they were to ring while they were meeting with the man in charge, he would make them answer, make them lure their friends into the same trap. Karen shook her head slightly. She wouldn't let that happen. No matter what fate they faced, she wouldn't lead these men to the other agents.

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Bill wondered why they hadn't blindfolded them. He had kept his eyes glued to their surroundings as they drove across the city, memorizing the exact route that they took. When the vehicles came to a stop, his kidnappers pulled him out of the car roughly and he looked up to see that they were at the back entrance of a large hotel. More sure of his location now, he moved his head until he could find Karen, his mouth curling into the smallest of smiles when he saw that she was still alright. She returned the smile, nodding at him slightly in an attempt to reassure him that everything would be okay.

They went through a service door and into the nearest elevator. Bill assumed that they would be going up to a penthouse suite, where they would finally meet the person behind all this. He was surprised when his ex-informant pushed a button labeled 'SB', and the elevator began moving lower. Things were not going at all how he had expected them to.

When the doors opened, they found themselves facing a long corridor. The couple was marched down it quickly, toward the door at the very end. The informant opened the door and ushered them into the large empty room beyond. It was then that Bill realized why they hadn't been blindfolded. No one was worried about them knowing this location because they wouldn't be around to tell anybody about it later. This was intended as their last stop.

"I apologize for the wait, but Richard had a couple of things to attend to before coming down to meet you."

"Richard?"

"The man in charge."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to give us a last name," Bill prodded.

"I think I'll just let him explain everything. I wasn't paid to give you information."

"No. Only to betray us and hand us over to be murdered in cold blood," he shot back.

"I already apologized for that, Bill. I need the money."

"Like hell you do."

"Fine. I wanted the money. Do semantics really matter here?"

"I hope you burn in hell."

"I probably will. But not for a long time yet."

Bill seethed, but could think of nothing else to say to the man. He silently berated himself for ever having trusted him, for not telling Jack and the others exactly where the meeting was being held. Now they were trapped with almost no hope for survival. As he looked at Karen, his eyes began to sting. This whole thing would be almost bearable if she weren't in danger as well. He tried to give her another smile, but his mouth refused to curve upward at all.

She held his gaze, seemingly trying to tell him something with her eyes. He watched in confusion as she moved one of her hands to her stomach, her fingers inching under her shirt as she apparently scratched at her skin. When her hand came away, he saw the faintest glint of metal in her closed fist. Raising his eyes to hers again, he saw her nod at him slightly. He returned the gesture, a sudden hope flaring in his chest. Even if they didn't make it out of the room alive, they wouldn't be butchered silently. Balling his right hand into a fist, he readied himself.

Karen moved quickly. She pressed the release button on the switchblade in her hand and rammed the knife backwards, into the side of the man holding a gun to her back. He dropped his gun suddenly, and she turned around, slamming her knee into his crotch. As he crumpled to the ground, she picked his weapon up and spun to face her husband's ex-informant.

As soon as Karen had acted, Bill had jabbed his elbow back into his captor's solar plexus, causing him to grunt and fall backwards. Bill turned around and slammed his fist into the man's face. He pulled back for another hit, but the other man had pulled out his own knife and slashed at him. Bill grabbed his wrist to keep him from reaching his upper body, and the two struggled against each other.

He had completely forgotten about the third man in the room. As he fought for his life, his informant raised his weapon, aiming at the back of his head. His finger slid along the trigger and he went to fire.

Three shots erupted and the informant fell to the ground, dead. The man underneath him distracted, Bill gained the upper hand in the struggle with his captor and slammed the knife up into his chest, breathing a sigh of relief as the other man slumped to the floor. Looking up, he saw his wife standing nearby, the gun still in her hand. Bill pushed himself up slowly, wincing at some sore spots. He walked over to Karen, gently taking the gun out of her hand.

"You saved my life," he said quietly.

She didn't say anything. Bill noticed that her hands were shaking and he took them in his, pulling her against his body.

"It's okay," he whispered.

"I've never killed a man before, Bill."

He stroked her hair. "I know. But you had to. They were going to kill us."

She nodded, pulling back slightly and placing a soft kiss on his lips. "We need to get out of here."

Bill sighed. "It would be nice to know who this Richard is."

"Bill," she said firmly. "It's too risky. We need to leave and get back to the others. They need to know what's happened."

Nodding reluctantly, he stripped the dead men of their weapons. "You're right. Here," he handed her gun back. "We might need this later. It would be better if we were both armed."

Hesitating slightly, she took the gun. Then they left the room quietly, making sure that the door was closed and secured behind them before moving toward the elevator and freedom.

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Tony watched as Jack paced like a caged animal. He had thought that the older man would calm down a little once he saw that Kim was safe and sound. But now they were waiting for Bill and Karen to return from their meeting, and the tension had risen again. They had expected the couple to be back some time ago, and the more time that passed, the more agitated Jack became.

"They didn't say where the meeting was?"

"They just told Chase and Nadia that they were meeting an informant of Bill's and that they would be back soon."

"Soon was over awhile ago."

"I know. But we're going to have to just wait it out for now, Jack. We can't go tearing through the city looking for them when we have no clue where to start."

"Why don't we just call them?"

"Because…" Tony paused. "if they are in trouble, calling them will only alert their captors to our presence. And that would be bad for all of us. If they're not…we have no idea what kind of meeting this is, really. Us calling might ruin things. Give them a little more time."

"All this waiting is killing me."

Tony walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to stop his pacing.

"Look, why don't you get some fresh air. Go up on the roof or something. Just to clear your head."

"It'll be quiet up there."

Tony nodded. "You'll be able to think better."

"Okay. You'll come get me if anything happens?"

"Of course."

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Karen and Bill let themselves back into the hotel suite quietly.

"What happened?" Nadia asked immediately.

"It was a trap. They were going to take us to whoever's behind all of this. Someone named Richard."

"I'll do a search," Chloe said from behind her computer.

"Shouldn't we be getting out of here?" Kim asked nervously.

"We can't keep running," Tony sighed. "Our chances are as good here as they are anywhere. We have to stay and fight."

"Chloe," Bill ordered, "we were taken to the Sahara, I want you to do a search, find everyone staying there named Richard. It's not much to go on, but it's the best we've got right now."

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"How's Nadia?" Kim asked when she practically bumped into Chase in the hallway.

"She's okay I think. I hope."

"My dad told Tony what happened. You had to take the bullet out?"

He nodded.

"What about Angela, is she okay?"

"She's with my sister. She's safe."

"Good," Kim said softly.

Chase ran a hand nervously through his hair. "I'm sorry if this is hard for you, being around me again. Being around Nadia."

She sighed. "Well, it's not going to change any time soon, so we should just try to make the best of it."

He nodded. "I'm glad you're okay. I heard about what happened to you and Tony."

"He saved my life," she whispered.

"I'm glad," Chase repeated.

"I'm glad you're okay," she murmured. "And that Nadia is."

They both turned when they heard Chloe cursing from the main room.

"What's going on?" Chase asked.

Nadia glanced up from her computer. "She ran into another dead end with the trace on the bug I found."

"This is impossible," she muttered. "Every time I start to make progress, they block me."

"Do you think they know you're in there?" Tony asked, watching Kim.

"I don't think so," Chloe sighed, her fingers flying over her keyboard once again.

"I think maybe I found something," Nadia said softly.

Everyone in the room turned to her.

"What is it?" Bill asked.

"It's video from," she paused, "from when Curtis was killed. I found a security feed from the gas station. I thought if we could identify any of the shooters…"

Chloe looked around the room. "Where's Jack? He should be here for this."

"He went to get some air," Tony explained.

"Should we wait?" Nadia asked.

"Jack can watch when he gets back," Bill ordered. "Start the video."

They watched the video once, Chloe struggling not to cover her face with her hands as she watched her friend die.

"Go back," Tony demanded.

Nadia rewound the footage.

"Pause it," he barked.

They all stared at the screen.

"That's Mandy," Tony said. "The second shooter."

"How can you tell?" Chloe asked.

Bill squinted at the screen. "You can barely see the second shooter."

"It's Mandy," Tony insisted.

"You're sure?" Karen asked.

"When someone holds a gun to your head, you don't forget. I remember every thing about her. It's Mandy, trust me."

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He didn't go right up to the roof. Instead he went downstairs to the casino, contemplating getting a drink first. The current circumstances were far too important for him to get drunk, but he thought that maybe a shot of whiskey would calm his frayed nerves and ease some of his attention.

There were plenty of waitresses moving down the rows of slot machines, and Jack headed toward one of them. As he opened his mouth to order a drink, his attention was caught by someone moving through the crowd and away from him. He had seen her profile for just a split second, but he was certain that he knew her. Her face tickled at his memory and he sifted through the places he might know her from. As little pieces began clicking into place, he walked away from the waitress who was still waiting for his order and began to follow the woman.

She moved without hesitation, seemingly confident in whatever her destination was. Jack made sure to keep a safe distance, not wanting to alert her to his presence. The very fact that she was in the same casino as he could not be coincidence, and he knew that he was on the verge of discovering something big about what was going on.

He frowned when he saw her go for the stairs. It would be difficult to follow her in there. But as she neared the door for the stairwell, she turned away, apparently thinking better of it. She instead moved further down the hallway, toward the service elevators that Jack had used when bringing Nadia in.

He waited as she got in and the doors closed. Then he moved to stand in front of the elevators, his eyes trained on the numbers as he watched them ascend. It took awhile for them to stop, and he saw that she had ridden to the very top floor. Getting into the next elevator, he did the same.

When the doors opened again, Jack found himself on an empty floor. There were no hotel rooms here and he moved down the hallway, reading the labels next to each door. Supply and electrical closets made up the bulk of them, but he paused when he reached a stairway at the end. The sign next to it read "Roof Access." Pulling out his gun, he slowly opened the door and moved up the stairs.

The roof was empty. Jack moved across it quietly, his gun at the ready, but he came across no one. Sighing in defeat, he moved over to the ledge, taking in the view of the city. Every light was on, despite the late hour, and he found himself wishing for some quieter place. When everything kept going nonstop, he found it difficult to push everything out and just let his brain work through the problems before him.

A sudden noise behind him made him spin around, raising his gun arm. He had only a moment to register that Mandy was standing right in front of him before she slammed her fist into his face. He tried to recover, repositioning his hold on his gun as he tried to slam the butt into her head. But she was too fast for him. Her next hit went right to his solar plexus, and he doubled over as all the breath rushed out of him. Then her right foot slammed down onto his instep just as her fist collided with his face again. He struggled to get enough oxygen into his lungs and to stand up straight, but she was already moving again.

Her arms shot out and pushed against his chest, and Jack felt himself tumbling off the roof.


	9. Chapter 9

Tony leaned his head against the wall outside of the room. The realization that Mandy was back had almost sent him spiraling into a panic attack – the last time he had seen her she had tried to kill him. The fact that she was involved in this conspiracy meant that the people after them wanted to see them dead, at any cost.

The others may have doubted that it was really her, but Tony knew differently. He hadn't had a clear view of her face on the video feed, but he didn't need to. Her stance and the way she held her gun was burned into his memory and he was certain of his assertion that it was her.

Tony realized that things had just become much more complicated.

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Kim absently chewed at a fingernail as she watched Tony leave the room. She had noticed that he had immediately tensed when he recognized Mandy on the video. She hadn't been in contact with him when he last met the assassin, but from what she could gather, it had been a harrowing experience. Michelle had been alive then, too, and Kim wondered if seeing Mandy had brought back the memory of his wife as well.

Debating with herself, she finally stood up and moved to follow him out of the room. Chase watched her from the corner of his eye, her behavior making him curious. He had noticed how she had moved closer to Tony when he introduced Nadia as his girlfriend, and they had spent a lot of time together since they had arrived in Las Vegas. He mulled that over, deciding that he would ask her about it later if he had the chance.

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"Tony?"

He opened his eyes to see Kim standing next to him, her hand resting gently on his arm.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I just need to a couple minutes."

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

He shook his head, smiling. "No."

Kim crossed her arms and shuffled her feet nervously. "It must be hard. Seeing her again."

"The last time I saw her she kidnapped me. Held me hostage with a gun to my head. And then she blew up a car that everyone thought I was in. Made Michelle think I had been killed."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Hesitating slightly, she moved forward and wrapped her arms around him. He tensed at first, but as she moved to pull away, he hugged her back tightly, suddenly unwilling to let her go.

"I miss her," he whispered into her hair.

"I know. And that's okay, Tony. There's nothing wrong with that."

He pulled back a little. "I'm sorry. You probably don't want to hear about my dead wife."

"Stop it," she said firmly, taking hold of his face and forcing him to look at her. "I want to be your friend, Tony. I know we haven't figured the other stuff out yet, but I do care about you. Don't ever think you can't talk to me about something. Michelle was a huge part of your life, and I'd be more worried if you never talked about her."

Tony leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. When he pulled back again, he was smiling.

"Thank you." He paused, suddenly looking nervous. "We will figure it out, right?"

"Figure what out?"

"The other stuff. What happened. Between us. Before."

She smiled gently. "Yeah, Tony. We'll figure it out. I'm not running anywhere."

"Me either," he said, the worry leaving his eyes. He took a deep breath. "I need to go find your dad."

It was Kim's turn to look nervous. "Why? You're not going to tell him what happened between us are you?"

"No, no, no. I happen to like living, Kim. And I'm pretty sure Jack would shoot me on the spot if I told him. Especially since we don't know what this is or where it's going. I'd rather have firmer answers before your dad finds out anything. But he needs to know about Mandy."

She nodded. "Okay. I'm gonna go back inside."

"Sounds good. We'll be back soon."

Kim watched him walk down the hall, absently chewing her fingernail again.

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Tony headed directly for the roof. He knew that Jack could have gone anywhere after he left him, but he suspected that his friend really had needed some fresh air. Taking the elevator, he got off at the top floor and moved to the end of the hall where the stairwell was. He climbed the steps slowly, still trapped in his thoughts about Mandy and what light her presence could shed.

When he got up onto the roof, he was surprised to find it empty. He walked around a little bit, enjoying the cool breeze that had picked up. But Jack was nowhere to be found. Moving toward the door that would lead him back inside, Tony pulled out his cell phone. He had no idea where else to look for Jack, and he didn't feel like roaming the casino or the busy streets down below. He dialed Jack's number.

As he lifted the phone to his ear, he froze suddenly. A phone was ringing nearby, and he recognized it as Jack's. Panic gripping him, he ran across the roof toward the ringing – and the ledge.

He peered over the edge and nearly stopped breathing. Jack was hanging on to the top of the large 'A' of the Palms sign. His feet just barely reached the crossbar of the letter, and Tony could see that there was no way he could haul himself back up.

"Well, at least you have a good reason for not answering your phone," he called out.

Jack's head snapped up.

"Tony! Thank God! I can't reach the ledge."

Tony surveyed the scene, trying to figure out the best way to rescue his friend. He was worried that if he waited for help to come, Jack would lose his grip and fall. There was no rope anywhere on the roof, and he decided that he was just going to have to pull him back up himself.

"Alright, Jack – I'm going to help you up. Give me a minute and hang on."

"You're going to do something stupid, aren't you?"

"I learned from the best," the younger man grinned.

Tony eased leg over the edge. He made sure he had a good grip on the ledge of the roof before turning and swinging the other leg over as well. The result was that he was straddling the point of the 'A,' with his back to the city below him. Tightening his grip with his right hand, he let go with his left and swung it down so that Jack could reach it. Wordlessly, the other man took the proffered hand.

"Alright. I need you to swing to the side, Jack. Then I'm going to pull you up so you can reach the ledge."

"You really think you can lift me with one arm?"

"I think it's the only chance we've got."

Jack nodded. Taking a deep breath, he counted to three and then gently swung himself out, praying that Tony's strength wouldn't give and they wouldn't both go hurtling to their deaths. He heard his friend grunt at the strain on his arm, but his grip held, and Jack felt himself being lifted slowly. He placed his feet on the upward slope of the 'A' and started to walk up it, using it as leverage to take some of the weight off of Tony.

Eventually he reached the ledge and pulled himself up and over. Quickly turning, he helped Tony back onto the roof as well. The two men toppled onto the ground, both breathing heavily.

"How the hell did you end up hanging off the roof?" Tony demanded.

"Mandy."

Tony looked at him sharply. "She's here?"

Jack nodded.

"She killed Curtis."

The older man sat up suddenly.

"What?"

"We got the video feed from the gas station. The bitch shot him."

"And now she's here," Jack mused. "I think the shit might be about to hit the fan."

"You mean it hasn't already?"

Jack stood up, reaching down a hand to help Tony. "Come on. Let's go back downstairs. We have to tell them that whoever's behind this knows we're here."

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"Is everything alright?" Bill demanded when he saw Jack's bruised face.

"No, everything is not alright," Jack replied.

"Mandy's here," Tony explained. "She threw Jack off the roof."

"What?" Chloe screeched.

"I saw her in the hotel," Jack supplied. "I followed her, thinking that maybe she would lead me to some answers. She went up to the roof, and when I got there, I couldn't find her. She snuck up behind me and pummeled the crap out of me before chucking me over the edge."

"How the hell did you survive?" Chase asked.

"I got lucky. I managed to catch one of the big letters that are on the front of the building. I'm just grateful that Tony came up when he did. I don't know how much longer I could have held on."

Suddenly, Chloe fled the room, doors slamming behind her.

Jack followed her down the hallway after a moment. He slowly opened the door she'd just slammed and let himself into her room. "What's going on?" he asked.

"What were you thinking?" she demanded, spinning to face him. "Were you even thinking?"

He stared at her. "That woman was here to kill us. To try to kill my daughter. I had to find out what was going on."

"Because we all have a much better chance if you're dead," she muttered.

"What is this about?"

"It's about you," she snapped. "It's about all the ridiculous risks you continue to insist on taking."

"Ridiculous risks that continue to save your life."

"You didn't save anybody's life tonight Jack."

"I found out Mandy was involved."

"We already found that out! We already knew. You risked your life for nothing Jack."

"What do you want me to do, Chloe, sit around and wait for someone to come after us? Wait for someone to kill you, kill Kim?"

"Is that what you think I do? Sit around and wait to die?"

"We are different people Chloe, we do things differently."

"I just lost Morris, and Curtis, and now you want me to lose you too, and just accept it."

"I thought you understood. You always understood me Chloe. That's what made you different."

"Don't compare me to her," Chloe snapped. "I am not Audrey. That is not what this is about."

"Let's take a break," he sighed. "We'll talk about this later."

"Fine," she muttered, slamming the door behind him as he left.

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"Do you think Chloe's okay?" Nadia asked, looking up from her computer.

"I'll go check on her in a minute. I'm trying to give her some space."

Nadia nodded.

"How's the search for Richard's going?"

"I'm almost in."

He smiled at her. "Good. The sooner we find Richard, the sooner we can figure this whole thing out and go home."

"Home," she repeated. "You really think that's going to happen?"

"Yes," he said firmly.

"I'm in," she said triumphantly.

"Now we just have to find Richard."

"I can copy the list, we'll run a search on everyone named Richard." She paused. "We should have figured this out."

"What?" he asked, looking over her shoulder. "You figured it out?"

"There is no one named Richard. They used a fake name. Of course they would."

"Dammit."

"I can start running a cross check on all these names, see if anything pops up, but it will take days."

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Karen winced as she heard the yelling from next door. She could understand why Chloe was so upset, but she knew that Jack hadn't meant to put himself in danger. He was just trying to do whatever he could to make them all safe again.

"She doesn't sound happy," Bill commented.

"She has every right to be mad. If they just admitted how much they care about each other, maybe things wouldn't explode like this."

"I'm sure they'll figure it out sooner or later."

"Let's hope sooner, if nothing else for our sakes." She sighed. "I think I might have something that can help us."

"Oh?"

Reaching into her back pocket, Karen pulled out a beaten leather wallet and handed it to her husband.

"What is this?"

"I took it from one of the men who held us captive."

"You stole it?"

She shrugged. "I thought it could give us a lead."

Bill suddenly smiled. "I'm impressed."

He walked over to the bed and opened the wallet, dumping its contents on the comforter. There wasn't much inside. He picked through the stuff until he pulled out a white card with something written on it.

"This could be helpful," he observed.

"What is it?"

"A phone number. No name. No explanation. But I imagine he needed a way to get in touch with someone higher up than him. This could be it."

"Let's give it to Nadia and have her look it up. Right now it could be our best clue as to who's behind all this."

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Bill handed Nadia the card with the number. "I need to know what this is," he said. "Where's Chloe?"

"She needed to take a break," Chase explained.

Nadia stared at the card before turning back to her computer.

"How's the search for Richard going?" Karen asked.

"Not one Richard staying at the Sahara," Chase reported. "She's running a cross check on everyone that was staying there."

"That will take too long," Bill muttered. "We don't have that kind of time."

"I'm doing the best that I can," Nadia sighed.

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"I've got it," Nadia said triumphantly.

"The number?" Karen asked. "You know what it means?"

"I think so. Otherwise it's a hell of a coincidence. It's a phone number, it goes to a room at the Sahara."

"Another trap?" Chase asked.

"They couldn't know we'd get the card," Bill said.

A sudden sound erupted around them. Everyone looked up, trying to find the source of the noise. Chase went to the door and opened it, looking out into the hall. Red lights were flashing and people were leaving their rooms. A computerized voice came over the intercom, explaining that there had been a fire reported in the building and that everyone must evacuate.

"What is it?" Nadia asked.

"Fire alarm," Chase explained as everyone else came back into the room and exchanged nervous glances.


	10. Chapter 10

"What do we do?" Kim asked nervously.

"Go downstairs with everybody else," Jack explained.

"You don't think it's some kind of trap?"

"Probably," he sighed. "We still need to go."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because they won't be expecting it," Tony supplied.

"That doesn't even make any sense," Chloe muttered. "It's a trap to lure us outside. They'll be waiting for us."

"We won't give them a chance to get to us," Jack said firmly. "They'll be waiting at the back, we walk out the front door with everybody else. We need to go to the Sahara anyway."

"What's at the Sahara?" Chloe asked.

"Whoever's trying to kill us," Jack answered.

"And we're just going to walk out of here and knock on their door," she said skeptically.

"Something like that. We need to split up," Jack suggested. "Kim, you're staying with me."

"Split up," Chloe repeated. "Fine. You go with Kim and Tony. I'll go with Chase."

"No," Jack argued.

"We don't have time for this," Bill interjected. "Jack, you go with Kim and Tony, Chloe will go with Chase and Nadia, and Karen and I will go together."

Jack looked at Chloe again but she was already on her way out the door.

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Tony watched Kim as they moved through the crowds outside the hotel. Aside from all the guests that had been evacuated, it seemed that everyone in the vicinity had stopped to see what all the fuss was about. He tried to stay close to her without alerting Jack – he had this nagging fear that she would be snatched from the crowd and they would be separated.

He tried to remember exactly when their relationship had changed. Somewhere between the running and fighting for their lives, he had come to care for her deeply. He found that he worried about her when she wasn't around, and that just her being nearby calmed and comforted him. His eyes came to rest on Jack, and he tried to rein his thoughts in – she was his best friend's daughter, and there was no getting around that.

"Are you okay?"

Tony's head snapped up as Kim placed a hand on his arm. Her eyes were full of worry that she was trying to hide, but she made no attempt to keep her dad from hearing.

"Something wrong Tony?"

At the sound of Jack's voice, Tony jerked his arm away from Kim and tried to put an innocent look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Kim looked at him sharply. "Are you sure?"

He tried to explain with his eyes, but she didn't seem to be getting the message. She just put her hand back on his arm, tugging a little and making him stop.

"I'm fine, Kim."

"You're acting funny."

"I'm just tired."

"Liar."

Jack suddenly realized that the other two had stopped. He turned around and found them standing in the middle of the crowd, the closeness of their bodies catching his eye. He watched them for a moment, wondering at their sudden friendship and the bond that seemed to have sprung up while they were on their way to Vegas. Shaking his head, he moved back toward them.

"Is there a problem?"

Tony jumped slightly and turned to face his friend. "No."

Kim looked ready to argue, but Jack spoke first.

"Good. We don't have time to stop. We need to meet the others at the Sahara."

"Are we getting a car?" Kim asked.

Jack shook his head. "We're trying to look normal. Let's just get a cab and get out of here."

The other two nodded and followed him.

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Bill and Karen walked hand-in-hand through the crowds, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

"I think we need to get a cab," she commented, looking around them.

Bill nodded. "Let's walk a little further though."

They walked in silence for a couple minutes, somehow forgetting that they were running for their lives. For just a moment it felt as though they were on vacation without a care in the world. Then Bill cleared his throat.

"I want you to leave, Karen."

She stopped and looked at him sharply. "What?"

He turned to her. "I don't think they're after you. You never technically worked for CTU. You were just there to oversee us during a crisis."

"So you're trying to send me away?"

Bill took her hand in his and used the other to cup her face. "Karen, this is serious. I love you with all my heart and I can't bear to lose you. I don't want to put you in danger."

She shook her head. "I understand what you're saying. But I'm not leaving you, Bill. I refuse. I promised to stay with you for better or worse and I'm not running away just because it's dangerous."

Looking into her eyes, he knew that she wouldn't leave him. He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"Okay," he whispered.

He took her hand and they continued walking.

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Chloe followed Chase through the parking lot.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Looking for an unlocked car."

"Shouldn't we walk?"

"I don't think Nadia can walk that far. I don't want her walking that far."

"So you're just going to walk around until you find one that's unlocked?"

"Yes."

"We can't just take a cab?"

He opened the door to the next car he tried and waited for Nadia to slip in before looking expectantly at Chloe.

"It still would have been easier to take a cab," she muttered.

"You're in a delightful mood."

She glared at him.

"Come on darlin'," he murmured, "talk to me."

"I don't think now is the time for a heart to heart."

"Why are you so mad at Jack?" he pressed.

"Because he's an idiot."

"Agreed," Chase said with a smile. "But that usually doesn't bother you."

She rolled her eyes. "Are you done with the interrogation?"

"He scared you," Chase reasoned. "He almost died and that scared you. So you're pissed at him, because you think it will hurt less if you lose him." He looked at Nadia. "I get how scary it is Chloe."

"Then drop it."

He sighed. "Will you at least think about fixing things?"

"If you'll shut up about it."

"Deal," he said with a nod.

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The taxi ride to the Sahara was uneventful, for which all three were grateful. They pulled up in front of the hotel and got out, keeping an eye out for anyone that looked familiar or suspicious. As they neared the front door, Jack stopped.

"You two go in," he explained. "Just try to look like normal tourists. I'm going to wait out here for the others."

The couple went inside, moving toward a sitting area across from the main desk. They sat on a couch facing the rest of the room so that they could watch the whole room. Awkward silence fell upon them for a few moments until Kim finally turned to him.

"Please tell me what's wrong."

He looked at her, giving her a gentle smile. "There's really nothing wrong, Kim. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Us."

"Oh." She paused. "Were they good or bad thoughts?"

He took her hand. "Good. I was just trying to figure out when exactly things had changed between us. How we got here."

"Do you regret it?"

"No."

"We still haven't figured things out."

"We haven't exactly had time."

"True."

She sat back against the couch and resumed watching the room. Tony kept his eyes on her, seeing the strain of the past few days weighing heavily on her. Leaning back, he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"We're supposed to look like normal tourists, remember?" He paused. "Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"No." She laid her head on his chest. "It feels nice."

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He spotted Jack as soon as he and Karen got out of the cab. They waved, trying their best to look like a normal couple meeting up with some friends. Smiles plastered to their faces, they moved in close to talk.

"Where are Kim and Tony?"

Jack gestured with his head. "Inside. I wanted to keep an eye for everyone else."

"Are the others here yet?"

"No. But it hasn't been that long. I'm trying not to worry."

Karen placed a reassuring hand on Jack's arm. "Chloe's only upset with you because you scared her, Jack. She almost lost you and that shook her to the core. You need to realize how much you mean to her. You need to apologize."

He shifted uneasily, looking down at his feet. "I wasn't trying to put myself in danger."

"I know that. And so does she. But think about what would have happened if your roles were reversed. You would have yelled at her for taking unnecessary risks."

He nodded. "She doesn't want to talk to me now."

"Give her time. I'm going to go inside and sit with Kim and Tony."

Bill squeezed her hand. "I'm going to stay out here with Jack."

"Okay."

She returned the squeeze and walked into the hotel. Her eyes scanned the lobby and eventually came to rest on the couple. She watched curiously as they sat closely, Tony's arm draped around her shoulders and Kim's head resting on his chest. A smile tugged at her lips as she realized that there was something between them – something they were trying to hide from everybody else.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she walked toward them. Tony saw her first and hastily removed his arm, causing Kim to glare at him. He nodded towards Karen, and when the younger woman saw her, she too moved away and put a respectable distance between them.

"Hello," Karen greeted as she sat in a chair across from them.

"Hi," Kim said weakly, wondering what the other was thinking.

"Where's Bill?" Tony asked.

"Outside with Jack. Probably planning."

"Did you see the others?"

Karen shook her head. "They're not here yet. We'll just have to wait."

"I hate waiting," Kim muttered.

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Chase parked the car a few blocks away from the hotel and they walked slowly, casually, through the crowded streets.

They found the rest of the group waiting for them in the lobby.

"No interesting activity?" Chase asked.

Tony shook his head.

"Were you followed?" Jack demanded.

"No," Chase muttered.

"Can you get into the hotel's security system?" Bill asked Chloe.

She nodded. "What do you need me to find?"

"We need to know which room the phone number belongs to."

"I think I know an easier way to find that out," Nadia said. "Give me a minute."

She took the card Bill had given her earlier out of her pocket and unbuttoned a few buttons on her shirt. She walked slowly to the front desk, smiling and the man behind it.

"Hi," she said, her smile still wide.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I hope so," she giggled, batting her eyelashes.

He smiled encouragingly at her. "What do you need?"

"Well, see, I have this number, and I was hoping you could tell me what room it went to."

"That's against hotel policy."

Her face fell. "Really? And there's nothing you can do about it?"

He watched her curiously. "Why do you need to know?"

She stuck out her lower lip. "I think my boyfriend's cheating on me," she said, tears in her eyes.

Five minutes later she marched back over to the spot where the rest of the group was waiting for her. "Room 721," she reported.

"Good job," Kim said with a laugh as Tony, Jack, Chase and Bill stared incredulously at Nadia.

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An hour later they were settling into a room at the Sahara, watching as Chloe pulled up the security's video feed for the hallways near room 721.

"So what do we do now?" Kim asked.

"We watch," Tony explained.

"We'll take shifts," Jack added, "so someone's always watching. Wake the others if you see someone coming in and out, hopefully we'll recognize them."

"Nadia and Chloe are trying to figure out who the room is registered too," Bill commented.

"You should all try to get some sleep," Jack said firmly. "I'll stay up."

Chloe continued peeking away at the second computer while Jack watched the first.

"Not tired?" he asked.

She ignored him.

"You're not talking to me now?"

"I'm trying to work," she muttered.

"You should rest."

"You start taking care of yourself, and then maybe you can give me advice," she snapped.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"Jack, we don't have time for this now."

"Chloe," he started, frowning at the computer screen. "Someone's coming out."

Chloe moved closer.

"Can you get a different angle?" he asked. "I can't see the face."

She hit a few keys and brought up a different camera.

"Zoom in," he requested.

"What is it?" she asked when Jack went silent.

"Get everyone else in here. Can you freeze that image?"

"Jack, what's going on?" she demanded.

"It's Richard Walsh."


	11. Chapter 11

"It's Richard Walsh," Jack repeated, staring at the figure on the screen.

"Richard Walsh?"

"He used to work for CTU."

"I know who he is. I had to go through his file once. He's dead Jack."

"It's Richard Walsh. You have to trust me."

Chloe stared at him. "Okay. So if it's Walsh…what's he doing? You think someone's forcing him to come after us?"

"I don't know."

"What's going on?" Bill asked from behind them.

"We saw someone come out of the room," Chloe explained.

"It's Richard Walsh," Jack said firmly.

"Richard Walsh is dead," Bill sighed.

"It's him."

"He's right," Tony said after staring at the screen. "It's Richard Walsh."

"Who's Richard Walsh?" Kim asked.

"He used to work for CTU," Tony explained.

"And he died?"

"Yes," Jack said softly. "The same day as your mother."

Kim paled slightly. "But you think that's him?"

"I know it's him," Jack said firmly.

"Someone needs to go down and check things out," Karen said.

"I'll go," Chase offered.

"Give me your room key," Chloe said. "I can program it to open his door."

Jack stood up and moved closer to Chase. "You don't have to do this," he said under his breath.

"I can't sit around and do nothing any more easily than you can," Chase sighed. "I'm going. I need to do something."

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Chase tried to steady his breathing as he moved closer to Richard's room. It had been a long time since he'd done something like this, and he wasn't very happy about having to do it. But these people were after him too, and they had shot Nadia, so he vowed to do whatever was necessary to find them and put a stop to their bloodbath.

The hallway was eerily quiet, for which Chase was thankful. They weren't sure how many assassins were actually in the hotel, and they hadn't been able to identify many of them. If he saw Mandy, though, Chase had pretty much decided that he was just going to run.

When he reached the door, he pulled out the keycard that Chloe had reconfigured to give him access. With a nervous glance to either side, he slid it into the reader and then pulled it back out, breathing a sigh of relief when the light turned green and he heard a small click. Slowly, he moved into the room.

Shutting the door behind him, Chase wondered idly why Richard had left the lights on. But then he looked around and his eyes widened slightly as he saw that the room was immaculate – there were no clothes anywhere in sight, almost no evidence that anyone was staying there at all. It was a big change from the rooms they were staying in – with so many of them and such high nerves, nobody really worried about keeping things neat and tidy.

Shaking his head, he concentrated on the task at hand. He searched the room thoroughly, looking under and inside every piece of furniture. But there were no personal effects to be found, and Chase was almost convinced that there was nothing for him to find. After looking everywhere, he stood by the foot of the bed with his hands on his hips as he turned slowly in a circle, searching for any place that he might have overlooked. His gaze finally settled on the bathroom and he sighed. There was very little chance that he would find anything in there, but he had to look.

He checked in the shower, behind the toilet and in the cabinet above the sink, but there was nothing there. His frustration building, he silently cursed, his brain insisting that there had to be _something_ in this hotel room that could help them. As he looked around the small bathroom one more time, his eyes rested on the air shaft up in the ceiling. Curious, he stepped onto the toilet seat to get a better look inside, his eyes widening when he saw something resting just inside the shaft. He searched for screws that held the vent in place, but he saw none. Gently, he pushed upward, surprised when he felt a little give. He lifted his arms harder this time, putting more pressure on the vent and smiling when it popped up. Reaching in, his hand rested on some kind of handle, and he pulled the object down.

Chase looked at the briefcase he was holding in surprise for a moment before he stepped down off the toilet and placed the case on it. Thankful that he had planned ahead, he pulled his lock pick set out of his pocket and got to work. Soon he had the case open and was rifling through the various papers inside. There were letters and memos, but most of them seemed to be in some kind of code. There was a disk as well, and he thought that Chloe or Nadia might be able to pull something off of it.

A sudden noise at the door made his head snap up. He knew that he couldn't be caught here – not only would they kill him, they would probably use him to get whatever information they could, or to force one of the others to show themselves. He couldn't risk that. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the disk and stuffed into his pocket, shutting the briefcase and flipping off the light in the bathroom as well. He stepped up onto the toilet quietly and tossed the case back up into the airshaft. With one look towards the door, he jumped and hoisted himself up into the shaft, replacing the air vent behind him and moving quickly away from the room.

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Tony splashed some water across his face and leaned against the sink in the bathroom. He closed his eyes for a minute, willing his body to wake up. There hadn't been much time for sleep, and what little sleep he did get was fitful. He kept seeing Mandy's face flashing in front of his eyes, and since seeing her, he'd had nightmares of her killing Michelle.

"Tony?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin when someone called his name. Looking around wildly, he didn't see anyone, and he started to think that the stress was getting to him.

"Up here, man."

Tony looked up toward the ceiling and saw Chase's face peering at him through the air vent. Frowning in confusion, he put his hands on his hips.

"How the hell did you get up there?"

"I needed to get out of Richard's room fast. Can you pop this vent out? There aren't any handholds inside."

He stepped up onto the toilet seat and pushed against the vent until it popped up and into the shaft. Stepping down, he got out of the way while Chase swung his legs down and then jumped out. The younger man reached back inside the shaft and pulled the vent back over the hole.

"Did you find anything?" Tony asked as Chase stepped down onto the floor.

He gave the other man a satisfied grin and pulled out a disk. "Think Chloe or Nadia can get something off of this?"

Tony returned the smile. "I've never been so happy to see a disk in my entire life. Let's go see what the girls can do with it."

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"We'll go down to breakfast in pairs," Jack said. "It'll give us a chance to do some surveillance." He looked at Chloe. "Are you coming?"

"Not with you," she snapped.

"I'll go," Nadia muttered. "I'm starving."

The rode the elevator to the lobby in silence and were quickly seated and ordered breakfast in the restaurant.

"Why don't you just talk to Chloe?" she finally asked as they ate.

"She doesn't want to talk to me."

"You can't ever do things the easy way, can you?"

He smiled. "Chloe and I have never been accused of being easy."

"You could always attempt to make it easy for the rest of us."

Jack grew serious. "I'm sorry about what happened to you Nadia."

"I'm fine. I'll be fine. You're changing the subject."

"She doesn't want to talk to me," Jack sighed.

"So, keep trying. Wear her down."

"Wear Chloe down? Is that even possible?"

She shrugged. "When has Jack Bauer ever backed down from a challenge?"

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Kim picked at her toast.

"You should eat," Chase said quietly from across the table.

"Sorry. I'm just…distracted."

"I'm sorry you couldn't go with Tony."

"What?" she asked, her head snapping up.

"Subtle, Kimmy," he chuckled.

"I'm fine. I don't wish I was with Tony."

"Yes you do."

"Just say whatever you're trying to say Chase. Spit it out."

"There's something between the two of you. Are you in love with him?"

"I don't know. How did you…"

"I saw you. Just something I noticed, the way you are around him."

She swallowed. "Something happened, on the road. When we were trying to get here. Something changed."

He nodded. "Well I hope you figure it out."

"What about Nadia? You love her, right?"

"Yes," he murmured. "I do. I'm sorry Kim, if that upsets you."

She shook her head. "It doesn't. I thought it would, but the time, our time…it passed. I think maybe we could actually be friends."

He smiled at her. "I'd like that."

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"What's going on with you and Jack?" Tony asked as he waited for the elevator with Chloe.

"Nothing," she snapped.

"You don't want to talk about it."

"No. I don't."

"He cares about you."

"That's not the issue."

"You care about him."

"So?"

"So, work it out."

"It's not that easy."

"Yes it is," he said stubbornly. "Do it before it's too late. Trust me Chloe, you'll regret it. Take the time that you have with him, don't screw it up."

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Tony watched Chloe as she quietly ate her breakfast. They had never been close, but in the past few months he had really come to care for her as a friend. He could see the stress and nerves wearing away at her, and he knew that the situation with Jack was only making things worse. But she was going to have to decide to forgive him on her own time, and nothing that he or anybody else had said was going to force that decision. He just hoped she mended things with her best friend before tragedy had a chance to strike.

Letting his eyes drift, he looked around the restaurant. Most of the tables were full as the hotel guests enjoyed their breakfasts before heading out for a day of gambling their money away. He never did really understand how someone could come on vacation and spend the day sitting in front of a slot machine.

Shaking his head slightly, he glanced toward the kitchen once before moving his attention back to his plate. As he speared a couple home fries and brought them towards his mouth, he frowned, something tickling at the back of his mind. His eyes moved back to the kitchen, searching out what had rubbed him the wrong way.

One of the waiters who had been across the room was now moving closer to them, pushing a cart of food in front of him. Tony's gaze moved over him and then snapped back, everything registering instantly.

"Chloe, get down!"

He reached across the table and grabbed her arm, throwing them both to the ground as the waiter reached under the tablecloth on the cart and pulled out and AK-47. Without a second's hesitation, he opened fire on the restaurant.

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Jack paced back and forth across the hotel room, and Nadia idly wondered if he was going to wear a hole in the carpet. He had tensed as soon as Chloe had left the room, and she knew that it was killing him that he wasn't with her, keeping an eye on her and protecting her. As he paced, his eyes kept flicking towards the computer screen where they were monitoring the activity near Richard's room. Finally, he stopped moving and just stared at the screen.

"Nobody has come in or out of there in a very long time," he said.

"What are you thinking?" Bill asked.

"That this was a mistake. That they were waiting for us to show up in a more public place, and we're giving it to them by going down to breakfast."

"You think this is a trap?" Kim asked, worry evident in her voice.

Chase gave her a sympathetic look, knowing that her thoughts were with Tony. "It would make sense," he said quietly. "And the lack of movement in that room has been bothering me too." He paused. "I think he might have noticed the disk missing."

Nadia frowned. "Then he would know. That we were here, that we knew he was here. It might push him to make a desperate move."

"It wouldn't hurt to go check things out," Bill suggested. "Walk down to the restaurant, make sure everything is okay."

Jack nodded. "Then that's what we'll do." He turned to the three women. "I need you all to stay here."

Kim's reaction was quick. "No. You can't do that. They're our friends too, Dad, and I can't sit up here not doing anything."

Chase reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "You won't be doing nothing. We need you guys to get whatever you can off of that disk, and to keep an eye on Richard's room. There might be more people here than we realized." Leaning in, he placed a kiss on her cheek and whispered in her ear. "Tony will be alright. I promise."

She gave him a thankful look and nodded. He caught the surprise on Nadia's face and he went over and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"She's worried about Tony," he whispered. "Don't worry. Things are over between her and I."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to be jealous."

"It's okay," he smiled, pulling back. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said, blushing slightly.

Karen was already over at Bill's side.

"I know you won't let me go, so I'm not even going to try to argue."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"But you had better come back to me, Bill."

He kissed her softly. "I will," he whispered.

He, Chase and Jack armed themselves and moved out, fear threatening to choke them as they descended to the restaurant.

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Nadia and Karen watched Kim pace around the room in front of them.

"You're like your father," Karen commented.

"Yeah," Kim sighed. "All his bad qualities and none of the good ones."

"I doubt that's true."

Kim paused and flopped down on one of the chairs. "Doesn't it make you crazy, being stuck up here and not knowing what's going on?"

"Yes," Nadia answered quickly. "Of course it does."

"Sorry," Kim said softly.

"It's fine," Nadia answered with a weak smile.

"How's the work on the disk going?" Kim asked, moving closer.

"Slow," Nadia said, frustration evident in her voice.

Karen watched the two younger women out of the corner of her eye while watching the video feed from outside Walsh's room.

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They could hear the screams before the elevator doors even opened. As they moved into the lobby and toward the restaurant, people came surging forward, away from the gunfire that had erupted behind them. The three men moved quickly, their weapons out.

When they entered the restaurant, a grisly sight greeted them. Multiple hotel guests and wait staff were down, blood pooling around them. Tony was using one of the tables as a shield as he traded gunfire with two assassins wielding automatic weapons. Chase moved over to join him, giving whatever aid he could.

As Bill and Jack moved to find their own cover, Jack's eyes frantically searched for Chloe. He found her in a far corner of the room, trying to wrestle a cruel-looking knife away from her assailant. Glancing around, he decided that he could make it to her without getting shot. Before he could move, though, Chloe had slammed her knee into the man's crotch and turned the knife, plunging it into his chest. Jack saw her eyes widen at the horror of what she had just done. Then she was diving behind the bar as some of the men turned their guns on her.

Bullets flew across the room as a war erupted. Chloe took a gun from the man she had just killed and added her own fire to the fray, shocking her friends as she took out two of the gunmen almost immediately. One of the assassins moved closer, riddling the tables in front of him with bullets. Tony and Chase frantically looked for somewhere else to take cover, but there was nowhere for them to go. They shared a look, seeming to agree on a course of action silently. Each taking a hold of the legs of the table, they charged forward suddenly, slamming the table into the gunman. Bowling him over, Chase didn't hesitate in aiming his gun and firing three shots into the man's chest.

Movement near the entrance to the restaurant caught Jack's attention and he turned his head. Standing in the doorway was Richard Walsh, watching the gunfight with an odd kind of detachment. His eyes met Jack's and they stared at each other for a long moment. Jack frowned, his expression clearly asking Walsh what was going on, how it had come to this. Without any change in his face, Walsh raised his gun and fired. Jack threw himself to the side, but not soon enough, and he felt the bullet graze his temple. Struggling to his feet again, he looked back toward the doorway, but it was empty – Richard was gone.

The rest of the gunfight was over quickly. Tony, Bill and Chase disposed of the rest of the shooters, one or two of them escaping through the kitchens. As everything quieted down, the five of them stood there in the middle of the restaurant, staring in helplessness at the multiple dead bodies lying around them as rescue workers and police officers rushed into the room.

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Nadia's eyes were glued to the computer screen in front of her. She had been trying to decrypt it since Chase had given it to her, but now she was distracted. The guys hadn't come back yet, and she knew that that meant trouble, that something had gone wrong downstairs. Shaking her head, she tried to push down the worry and fear that was threatening to overwhelm her.

Her computer beeped, interrupting her thoughts and signaling that something had been decrypted. As she scrolled through the new information, her mouth dropped open.

"Holy shit," she whispered.


	12. Chapter 12

Nadia's discovery was interrupted when the door opened. She tensed until she saw Chase, who rushed across the room and pulled her into his arms.

"You're okay," she whispered, trying not to stare at the blood on his body and clothing. "Did you get hurt?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine."

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you," he said, combing slowly through her hair.

Kim and Karen came into the room when they heard the other arrive.

Bill wrapped his arms around his wife.

"You came back," she said softly.

"I promised you I would."

Nadia cleared her throat. "I think I found something."

"What?" Chase asked, looking at her computer screen.

"Someone has been transferring a large amount of money, government money, to Richard Walsh's account. The money was then transferred to Mandy and some other people that we can only assume are other assassins."

"Are you sure?" Bill asked.

"It's all right here," Nadia protested, pointing at her screen.

"That stuff can be faked," Jack pointed out.

"I checked it out. You can let Chloe look at it too."

Chloe took a seat next to Nadia and looked at the computer, pressing a few keys.

"It's real," Chloe said firmly. "It hasn't been planted."

"Then we need to find out who's been making the transfers," Karen said.

"We'll work on it," Nadia said.

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Kim followed Tony down the hall into the room they were sharing. She watched him pull off his stained clothing.

"I was scared," she said softly from behind him.

He turned to face her. "I'm sorry."

"I was worried you wouldn't come back."

He pulled her against his chest. "I'm okay Kim. I'm just fine."

"What happened down there?"

"They ambushed us."

She hugged him more tightly. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I am," he assured. "I'm okay. I'm right here."

"I should let you finish," she said, stepping back.

He nodded. "I need to take a shower. You could stay here until I'm done."

She sat on the bed.

He hesitated at the doorway to the bathroom. "Are you okay Kim?"

She gave him a weak smile. "I was just worried about you."

He crossed the room and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'm fine Kim, really."

"I'll be here when you get done."

"Good," he murmured.

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Chloe knew that she should be focusing on the information that Nadia had found on the disk. She knew she should be trying to find the connection, trying to figure out who in Washington would want all the CTU agents dead. But her brain just wouldn't obey her. All she could see was Richard Walsh raising his gun and pointing it at Jack, and Jack falling backwards as the bullet grazed his head. She knew that he was alright, that the wound was almost superficial, but that had been the second time in two days that she had come close to losing him. That knowledge weighed on her heavily, and as those around her talked quietly, she could feel her chest constricting and her breathing becoming labored. She recognized the signs of a full-blown panic attack, and decided that she needed to get away from everyone else.

Mumbling something about needing to clean up, she spun on her heel and left the room as quickly as she could.

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Jack watched as she hastily left the room. He still couldn't push the image of her fighting for her life out of his head. When he had heard the shots downstairs, his mind had instantly imagined the worst, and he had almost convinced himself that he was going to go into the restaurant and find her lying on the floor, dead. But she was stronger than that, and had wanted to run over and embrace her after she had killed her assailant.

The distance between them was killing him. He understood why she was angry – she was scared. All those people she held close to her heart were in danger, and there wasn't much she could do about it. Karen and Nadia's words came to mind again, and he suddenly found himself needing to know if they were right – if maybe Chloe was so angry at him because of how she felt about him. Unable to relax until he got the answer directly from her, he followed her line of exit into the next room.

He looked around in confusion when he didn't see her there. Her shoes were by the bed, but there was no other sign of her. He was about to go out into the hall to look for her, when he heard the sound of the shower being turned on in the bathroom.

Jack didn't even think about it. He just strode across the room and opened the door, barging into the bathroom. Chloe had just taken her shirt off, and she hastily held it up in front of her bra-clad breasts as she stared at him in shock.

"Jack! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He shut and locked the door behind him before moving toward her, backing her up against the wall next to the shower.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Her eyes softened slightly. "I'm fine."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"What?"

"For making you so mad. For scaring you. I wasn't trying to do something dangerous. I didn't even think about it."

Chloe dropped her eyes to the ground. "Just go, Jack."

He shook his head. "No."

Her eyes snapped back up to his. "What?"

"No," he repeated. "I need to know something."

"Then will you let me take a shower in peace?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Ask."

"Karen…she said the reason you were so upset with me was because I scared you. Because you were afraid of losing me. Because…because of how you felt about me."

She stared at him for a long moment, unable to answer his unspoken question. Then, hesitantly, she reached up a hand and gently touched the cut on his temple.

"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered. "I can't lose you, Jack."

He moved closer to her. "I can't lose you either."

Leaning in, he kissed her softly. She kissed him back as he pushed her against the wall, his arms coming to wrap around her waist. As he nudged her lips open and moved his tongue into her mouth, Chloe lifted her arms to encircle his neck, letting her shirt fall to the ground between them.

Their kisses grew passionate and hungry as steam enveloped them. Chloe's hands drifted down and under Jack's shirt, roaming over his chest and stomach. Pulling away, he lifted his arms and looked at her expectantly. She gave him a small smile as she lifted the shirt and pulled it over his head, her eyes taking in the sight of his bare chest.

Then he was kissing her again, pushing their bodies as close as they could get. His fingers skimmed her stomach, causing her to groan into his mouth. He ran a finger down the zipper of her jeans and she bucked against him. Knowing that he was teasing her, Chloe mirrored his actions, running her fingers along his stomach and zipper, feeling him hard beneath her touch.

Their pants were the next casualties, both of them fumbling in their haste to touch the other. When their jeans had been discarded on the floor beside them, Jack reached out his hand to check the temperature of the water. Still kissing her, he stepped into the shower and lifted Chloe in with him, sighing as the water rushed over them and heated up their already hot bodies.

They took their time, running their hands over each other in an attempt to explore every inch of skin. Jack kissed down her neck, undoing the clasp at her back and sliding the bra off. He rubbed against her hardening nipples, enthralled by the moans and sighs that were escaping her mouth. He moved his lips down her neck and sternum, kissing between her breasts and down her stomach, his hands taking hold of her underwear and sliding the wet material down her legs. With a mischievous smile, he placed a quick kiss on her, darting his tongue out to lap against her folds. She gasped and fisted his hair in her hands, but he was already moving back up her body.

"That wasn't very nice," she whispered.

"You liked it," he murmured as he kissed her lips again.

She pulled back. "Yes. But I'm a firm believer in revenge."

Before he could reply, her tongue was trailing down his neck and chest, down on his torso and over his bellybutton. Jack slammed one hand against the wall of the shower, trying to steady himself as her hands made quick work of his boxers. She kissed the insides of his thighs, smiling at the way he quivered. Then she ran her tongue along the underside of his hard cock, the anguished moan above her sending a jolt of heat straight to her core.

Standing up, she attacked his lips, plunging her tongue into his mouth and rubbing her body against his. Jack growled deep in his throat, slamming her back into the wall and lifting her, forcing her to wrap her legs around his hips. He pulled back slightly to look at her as he positioned himself at her entrance.

"I love you," he said quietly. "I'm sorry I scared you. I'm sorry it took me so long to say it."

Chloe smiled and rested her forehead against his. "I love you too," she whispered.

Then her smile turned coy and she rolled her hips against him. Groaning, Jack kissed her hungrily before thrusting into her, hard and deep. They paused for a moment, adjusting to the fit. Then they were moving, their rhythm fast and desperate, their bodies anxious for the release they had wanted for so long. Chloe's nails dug into his shoulders, but he didn't notice, his own fingers bruising the skin of her hips as he tightened his hold and pulled her ever closer.

Reaching down, he slid a finger into her, rubbing against her clit. She gasped, closing her eyes and tangling her hands in his short hair. They moved faster, their moans getting louder and louder, echoing off of the bathroom walls. Jack came first, emptying himself into her and crying her name. Her own orgasm came right after and she rode the wave of pleasure as their bodies sagged against each other.

They stood like that for a long time, using the wall to keep them up, letting the water flow over them and calm them. Chloe rested her head in the crook of his neck, and Jack let his hands rub up and down her back, soothing her enflamed skin.

"I still need a shower, you know," Chloe murmured into his ear.

Jack smiled and let her down, setting her feet gently on the floor. "I think I can help with that."

"You just want to touch me again."

"Yes," he whispered, reaching for the soap and a washcloth. "And I hope you still believe in revenge."

"Don't worry," she smiled.

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"Tom Lennox."

"Tom? It's Karen."

He sighed in relief. "You're still alive then. I've been worried."

"I'm sorry, Tom. But things have been hectic here. Whoever wants to kill us seems to be going about the task whole-heartedly."

"Is everyone else still okay? Bill?"

"Yes, we're all alright. We've had some injuries and close calls, but we're all still breathing. I consider that a miracle at this point."

"What can I do to help?"

"We've found out some interesting things about who's behind all this. Do you remember Richard Walsh?"

"The name sounds familiar. He worked for CTU a number of years ago, didn't he?"

"Yes. And he was killed in the line of duty more than ten years ago. Or so we thought."

"You mean he's alive?"

"Yes. And he's the one directing the assassins."

"But that makes no sense."

"It only gets more interesting from there. We managed to get a disk from his room and decrypt part of it." She took a deep breath. "Tom, the funding for this 'operation' is coming from a government pool."

"What?" Tom exclaimed. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

There was silence on the other end.

"Tom? Are you still there?"

"Yes, Karen. I'm here. It's just…I've heard some interesting information lately. And if this really has it's start in the government…"

"What is it, Tom?"

"Well, Senator Heller has suddenly disappeared."

"What do you mean?"

"His staff is citing a family emergency, but from what I've been able to find out, that's not true. His children are fine – well, as fine as they can be. He's left Audrey Raines in the care of a private nurse."

"If he's not with her, then where is he?"

"Well, I did some digging."

"And?"

"He got on a private plane late last night."

"A plane to where?"

"Las Vegas."


	13. Chapter 13

"I have something I need to share with all of you," Karen said when everyone had gathered in the main room, exchanging nervous glances.

"James Heller is on his way to Las Vegas. It's likely that he's on his way here, to meet Richard Walsh."

"That's ridiculous," Jack muttered.

"He's the best lead we've got Jack," Bill said. "The pieces all fit."

"You must be wrong," Jack said.

"It's all right here," Nadia protested, pointing at her screen. "He'd have access to everything."

"That stuff can be faked."

"The information is real," Tony said. "Chloe and Nadia both looked at it. I'm sure if they keep looking, they'll find a link to Heller."

"It's been planted," Jack insisted. "I know Secretary Heller, he wouldn't do this."

"Senator Heller," Karen corrected.

"It's real," Chloe said firmly. "It hasn't been planted."

"Then he must not have known where the money was going. He must not know what he's doing. None of this makes any sense," Jack muttered.

"What about Audrey?" Chloe asked softly.

Jack stared at her. "What does she have to do with any of this?"

"What if he blames us for what happened to her?" Chloe continued.

"He wouldn't do something like this."

Kim watched her father. "If something happened to me, like what happened to Audrey, you wouldn't want to do something for the people you thought were responsible?"

"I wouldn't do something like this," Jack said.

"I know daddy."

"Keep looking," Jack instructed Chloe and Nadia. "There's got to be something else, something we're not seeing."

"Okay," Chloe said, sharing a long look with him. "We'll keep looking."

Kim inched closer to Tony. "I need to get out of here for awhile."

"I'll come with you."

"I'm just going to take a shower. Stay. I think my dad needs you. Do you really think Heller's behind everything?"

"I don't know. Probably."

She nodded. "I'll be back," she whispered before slipping out the door.

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Kim sighed as the hot water ran down her body. Knots had grown in her shoulders over the past few days, and it was a relief to finally be able to relax a little and take a breath. She knew that things weren't over yet; she knew that they were likely to come to an explosive head before this was done. But right then, at that moment, she didn't have to worry about anything.

That didn't keep her mind from wandering, however. Her thoughts drifted to Tony and what was happening between them. She couldn't deny that her feelings for him were growing, that she found a peace in his presence that she hadn't known in a long time. But things were more complicated than that. He was older than her, and her father's best friend. She feared that her dad would freak out if he discovered that they had been together. Kim had seen him in rages before when it came to his little girl, and it was never pretty.

She frowned as she thought she heard a sound behind her. Pausing, she waited to see if she would hear anything else, but there was nothing. She shrugged, figuring that Tony had come back to the room to catch a little rest before their next move – whatever that would be.

Without warning, the shower curtain was pulled to the side so hard that it ripped out of some of its rings. Kim gasped as she turned around to see two men standing before her, leering at her as they took in her naked, soapy body. She opened her mouth to scream, but one of them was already there, his hand muffling her cry and his other arm wrapping around her and dragging her out of the shower.

She struggled as hard as she could, but the two of them were too strong for her. One carrying her legs, and the other still clamping his hand over her mouth and his arm around her waist, they took her across the room to the bed, throwing her down upon the mattress so hard that she bounced. The bigger of the two climbed on top of her, hastily stuffing a rag into her mouth so that both of his hands were free.

Tears streamed down Kim's face as his hands began to wander, forcing her legs open and clamping her wrists down.

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Tony knew that he should be listening to what was going on. But he was tired, and his brain was having trouble focusing on anything at the moment. His gaze drifted around the room as he idly wondered at the possibility that Senator Heller was behind this. His initial reaction was to reject it, but the more he thought about it, the more plausible it sounded.

He turned his head sharply as his ears picked up a faint noise to his right. His gaze bored into the door next to him, as though he could see into the rooms beyond. He strained to listen, but when no other sound came, he shook his head and tried to turn his attention back to the conversation at hand.

It was louder this time, and Tony was sure that he could hear a muffled cry after it. Tugging on Jack's sleeve to get his attention, he moved through the door into the next room slowly, his eyes narrowed and his gun out.

"Tony, what-"

He held up a hand to silence Jack. Realizing that something was wrong, Jack pulled his weapon out as well and they moved across the adjoining room. They looked around, but it was empty. Tony frowned in confusion, but then there was a crash from the room beyond – his and Kim's room.

Breaking into a run, he burst out into the hall and down to their door, frantically jiggling the handle. Fumbling and cursing, he fished his keycard out of his pocket and unlocked the door, running into the room.

Rage erupted somewhere inside him and rushed through his veins. His vision tunneled as he saw a large man lying atop a naked Kim, his hands in places they had no right to be. Without a moment's hesitation, he raised his gun and fired, the attacker jerking to the side as the bullet ripped through his temple.

Jack had rushed inside after him, his own anger roaring to the service as he saw the men attacking his daughter. As Tony took care of the one on top of Kim, he surged forward, bending low and tackling the second attacker. They toppled to the floor, each trying to gain the other hand. Jack slammed his fist into the man's face and stomach, intent on causing as much pain and injury as possible. As he continued his assault, the man beneath him suddenly landed a punch to his kidneys, causing Jack to groan and loosen his grip. The attacker rolled himself on top, wailing on the agent before pulling out a large hunting knife. Jack grabbed his wrist, bending it and then finally sinking his teeth into the man's flesh to get him to let go. Then he pushed the man's chin up and away from him, making it impossible for him to keep hitting him. Reaching up, Jack placed his other hand around the back of the man's head and then twisted, the snapping sound highly satisfying.

Pushing the limp body off of him, Jack sat up and looked around. At the sound of fighting, Chase and Bill had run into the room, and were now staring in shock at the two bodies lying on the floor. Kim had escaped into the bathroom and was now emerging slowly, clad in a fluffy white bathrobe. He watched as Tony approached her, a hand cautiously extended towards her. She looked at him for a moment before her tears overcame her and she launched herself into his arms. He held her closely, running his fingers through her hair and whispering soothing words in her ear.

"What the hell happened here?" Chase finally demanded.

Jack stood up, his anger slowly mounting again.

"They attacked Kim. They tried…they tried to hurt her."

"Are they both dead?" Bill asked.

Jack nodded, knowing that the other couldn't have survived Tony's shot to the head. Bending down, he rifled through the pockets of the man he had fought, pulling out his wallet and dumping the contents on the floor. Sifting through them, he found a white card with a phone number on it. He stood up again, handing the card to Bill.

"It's the same number that Karen found earlier." He paused, clenching his fists. "Richard Walsh sent these men."

"What do you want to do?" Chase asked.

Jack looked back at Kim, who was still wrapped in Tony's embrace. He wanted to comfort her, to be there for her, but he could tell that she was comfortable with Tony. And his anger called him to action. He walked over to her, gently placing a hand on her back. Kim pulled away from Tony slightly, looking up at her father. He kissed her forehead and gave her a small smile.

"Do you need me to stay?"

She shook her head, trying to return the smile. "I'm okay."

Jack turned to Tony. "You'll take care of her?"

"Always."

He nodded, frowning slightly at Tony's word choice. He kissed Kim and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I'm so glad you're alright, sweetheart. Don't worry. I'm going to take care of this."

She looked at him seriously. "Be careful."

He nodded. "I will." Turning, he walked back over to Chase and Bill, lowering his voice. "We'll take the bodies to the other room. See if we can find anything else on them."

"And then?"

"And then I'm going to pay a visit to Walsh."

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Tony hugged Kim more tightly after Jack left the room.

She cried softly against his chest. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Shhh. It's okay."

"If you hadn't gotten here…"

"Don't think about that. It's okay. I'm right here, I won't let anyone hurt you, I won't let them touch you."

She kissed him softly. "I want you to touch me."

He frowned. "Right now?"

She nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to make things worse."

"You won't," she said, kissing him again, more urgently. Her fingers tangled in his hair as her tongue searched his mouth. She shifted, her body pressing against him.

He pulled away, his forehead resting on hers. "I don't know if I can keep doing this Kim."

"Did I do something wrong?"

He kept his arm firmly around her waist to keep her from running. "No."

"Then what changed?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Everything."

"Tony…"

"Just listen to me. Hear me out."

"Fine," she said softly.

"I don't think I can keep doing this, having sex with you without knowing what it means."

"You want to stop?"

"I want to figure out what we're doing."

"Aren't I supposed to be the one who says that?"

Tony laughed. "I think you are."

"So…what are we doing?"

"I'm falling in love with you," he said, staring into her eyes.

"Really?"

"Yes," he answered simply.

"I think I'm falling in love with you too," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

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Chloe embraced Jack as he came striding back into the room, his eyes tired and his shoulders slumped. She held him tight, worried at the desperate way he hugged her back.

"Is everything all right?" she asked when they finally pulled back.

He shook his head, looking down at the floor.

"Two men…they broke into one of the rooms…they attacked Kim."

"Is she okay?" Chloe asked. When he didn't respond, she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. "Is she okay, Jack?"

"They tried…they were about to rape her," he explained in a strangled whisper.

Chloe's eyes widened and her grip on his face tightened. "But you…you got there in time?"

He nodded. "Just barely."

"Where is she now?"

"Tony's taking care of her." He frowned. "They're closer than I realized."

Chloe let that pass, not wanting to voice her suspicions right then. "What about the two men?"

"Dead. We dragged them next door."

"Any idea who they are?" Nadia asked from the desk.

"Walsh's men. They had the same phone number on them as Karen's earlier attacker."

"So what are you going to do?" Chloe asked, her eyes narrowing.

He looked at her, his eyes pleading. "I can't let this pass, Chloe."

She bit her lip. "I know. But I don't want you putting yourself in danger."

"We're all in danger. Right now. All the time. I have to put an end to this."

"You're going to find Walsh." It wasn't even a question.

"He sent them. I can't ignore that. They tried to hurt my little girl."

"I don't want to lose you, Jack," Chloe whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

He leaned his forehead against hers, his thumbs running along her cheekbones.

"You won't. I'll come back to you. I always come back to you, Chloe."

"Promise?"

Jack leaned down and kissed her slowly, his tongue nudging her lips apart as she pulled herself closer to him. Finally, he pulled away and gave her a small smile.

"Promise."

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Both Chase and Bill had protested loudly when he said that he wanted to do this alone. But he wore them down, telling them that they couldn't leave the women unprotected. Chloe, Nadia and Karen had all balked at this, but Jack gently pointed out that none of them had much field experience, and he didn't want to split the group up anymore. He told them to stay together and watch the monitor. If Walsh came out and he didn't, then they needed to finish the job.

As he moved down the stairwell, Jack felt his rage growing once again. He couldn't rid himself of the image of that man on top of Kim, touching her, hurting her. The pain in her eyes had struck him like a blow, and his eyes hardened as he thought of Walsh, ordering his men to come after his daughter.

By the time he was on the right floor, his pace had picked up and he was practically running down the hall. When he came to the right door, he didn't hesitate, slamming his whole body against the one thing standing between him and Walsh. It took a few hits, but then he was through, the door hanging off its hinges.

Jack walked into the room, his eyes immediately resting on Richard Walsh, a man he had believed to be dead for over ten years. He looked almost the same, although with a few more stress lines around his eyes and mouth. Their gazes locked, and they just stood there, neither entirely sure of what to do.

Then Jack remembered Kim, his little girl, being pawed at by a couple of thugs. His jaw clenched as he realized that he was staring at the man responsible for that attack. Without a word, he charge at Walsh, throwing him down to the ground. His knees on either side of him, Jack immediately began pummeling him, his fists mostly landing blows to the man's face. Walsh raised his arms, trying to fend off the attack, but Jack just stopped punching him and wrapped his hands around his neck and squeezing.

"You son of a bitch!" he yelled. "How dare you send them after my daughter? How could you order them to hurt her? To _rape_ her? What the hell happened to you?"

"Jack!" Walsh tried to speak, but the pressure on his throat making it difficult. "Jack! I didn't tell them to go after Kim!"

Jack stared at him for a moment, his mouth curling in a sneer. Then he abruptly let go, standing up and dragging Walsh with him. With a disdainful glance, he threw the man into a chair by the bed. Then he took a seat on the bed across from him, still breathing heavily.

"Talk."

Walsh rubbed at his neck. "They weren't told to target any certain person. They were just supposed to take someone and bring them back here." He looked at Jack seriously. "I never told them to rape Kim."

"And that's supposed to make this all better? You've been tracking us down – killing us one by one! What the hell happened to you, Walsh? You used to be one of the good guys!"

"And I still am."

"What do you mean?"

"The rationale behind taking out CTU was sound. The agency has proved to be a liability instead of an asset. There are frequent leaks, leading to national and international crises that should have been avoided!"

"So you just decided to kill everyone that had ever worked there?"

Walsh shook his head. "We wanted to create such a panic over CTU that the White House would have no choice but to shut it down. With multiple agents dead, they would have no choice."

"But why chase us? Why not just kill those who were easier targets and let us go? They'd still probably shut us down."

"You and the ones you're with were on a special list. You were all tagged as agents who would make trouble, who wouldn't let it lie if there was an attempt made on your life. We were told you had to be killed at all costs."

"Told? By who?"

Walsh thought for a moment. "A secret committee was set up within the Senate. They told us that CTU was considered an immediate threat to national security and needed to be neutralized to the point of barely existing. The President would have no choice then but to shut you down."

"I want names."

"I don't know any."

"Liar."

"Fine. I won't tell you. I know what you're trained in, Jack. I know what you can do to a man. But I will not tell you who's behind this. I'm not a traitor."

"Close enough! You turned on the people you worked with." He paused. "I thought you were dead."

Walsh nodded. "So did I. But after you left me that night, somebody else showed up. They took me to a private hospital, nursed me back to health."

"And what? You've been doing covert ops for the government ever since?"

"Pretty much. My deceased status helped me go undetected in places that other agents couldn't gain access to."

"Who? Who saved you?"

"I don't know."

"How can you not know?"

He shrugged. "I was unconscious. I'd lost a lot of blood. By the time I woke up in the hospital, I was only told that everything was being paid for by somebody else. After I recovered, I was approached by a couple of high-ranking CIA agents. That's how I started doing black ops."

Jack shook his head, trying to take everything in. "You've twisted it all, Richard. You don't turn on an agency and people that you worked with. People you were friends with. You're not one of the good guys anymore."

"I'm sorry you can't see things my way, Jack. But what I'm doing is for the good of the country. You're a threat."

"We've saved this country countless times."

"And put it in more danger than it's ever been in."

"It's over, Walsh."

"I'm not letting you take me."

"You don't really have a choice," Jack sighed as he moved to stand up.

Only the glint of metal as the light hit it saved his life. Walsh lunged forward, a switchblade in his hands. Jack fell back onto the bed, catching the other man's hand as it came plunging down at his chest. They struggled, both trying wear down the other and move the knife. Jack grimaced as the blade moved closer to his skin, the point scrapping along his t-shirt before sinking down and drawing blood. He cried out, bringing one of his knees up sharply and catching Walsh between the legs. The older man grunted and his arm went lax. Jack took advantage of the distraction and rolled on top of him, turning the knife so that it pointed at Walsh. Placing both hands on the handle, Jack threw all his strength into it and felt the blade sink into the chest of the man beneath him. He watched in mingled horror and satisfaction as Walsh stared at him in surprise, the life slowly draining out of his eyes as blood seeped out of the wound and onto the bed. He moved his mouth as though to speak, but then his entire body went limp.


	14. Chapter 14

Jack stared down at the body of his former coworker, a man he had considered a friend. He walked into the bathroom, washing his hands and face without looking in the mirror. As he stepped into the hallway he raised one hand to wave at the security camera that he knew Chloe was watching before beginning the short trek to their room.

He found Chloe waiting for him just inside the door and she threw her arms around him. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"Richard Walsh is dead," he said quietly when the others regrouped in the main room.

"What happened?" Chloe asked.

"He wouldn't talk. He tried to kill me. I did get a little intel from him. A committee was formed, probably under James Heller's guidance, that decided that CTU was a threat to national security."

"That's crazy," Kim said.

Jack nodded. "Their plan was to kill us all to force the president to shut down CTU. Walsh said there was a list with all our names on it, we were the ones they were supposed to kill."

"I found some information on Heller," Nadia said after Jack had finished recounting what happened in the room.

Chloe nodded. "He's definitely involved. We finally unlocked the paper trail on the disk."

"He's supposed to land on a private airstrip in about an hour."

"Then we're going," Jack said firmly. "I need the two of you," he continued, looking at Chloe and then Nadia, "to stay here. See if you can find anyone else who might be involved in Washington. Kim will help you."

"I'm not staying behind this time," Karen said softly to Bill. "Whatever happens, I'm going to be there."

He nodded slowly, taking her hand.

"When we get out of here, I'm never letting you out of my sight," Nadia said as Chase embraced her.

He chuckled. "That sounds pretty good. You could move in with me."

"Really?" she asked, tilting her head to look at him.

He nodded. "Angela loves you. I love you. I want to be able to always have you close."

She smiled. "I love you Chase. Come back."

"I will," he promised, kissing her tenderly.

Chloe rested her head against Jack's chest.

"I don't want to lose you," she whispered.

"You won't. I promise. I have to do this one more thing, and then I'm done. This will be all be done and we can go home."

"Home," she repeated. "That sounds really nice."

He smiled and kissed her softly. "Marry me Chloe," he said softly.

"What?" she asked.

"Marry me. I've come so close to losing you, I can't ever lose you again. When we get out of here, marry me."

"Yes Jack."

"Yes?"

She nodded, smiling at him. "I'll marry you."

Kim and Tony slipped into the hall, away from the others.

"This is the end?" she asked.

"Hopefully."

"And after it's over?"

"I'll take you on a proper date."

She kissed him urgently, her fingers twisting his shirt.

They started away from each other when they heard the door.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jack growled.

"I'm sorry," Tony said, putting his body in front of Kim's. "I can explain. I was going to talk you about it, when we got out of here."

"Get away from her."

"No," Kim said, stepping between her father and Tony.

"Go back in the room sweetheart," Jack said.

"No," she said again. "This is stupid. Tony means something to me, I'm falling in love with him. I'm sorry you found out like this, I'm sorry that we didn't tell you and do things right, but it's the truth, daddy, and I won't walk away, I won't let you kill him, or whatever you're planning. Something could happen to you out there, or to him, and if is does…" he voice wavered. "If it does, we are going to leave with things right between us."

Jack looked between the two of them before pulling Kim into a tight hug. "I love you sweetheart. We'll work this out later."

She nodded, kissing her father's cheek and embracing Tony one more time before stepping into the room while Chase, Bill, and Karen joined Jack and Tony in the hallway.

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Tony's gaze flickered to Jack nervously as they drove toward the airfield. The older man hadn't said a word to him since they had left, fear clutched him as he imagined all things that he _would_ say when this was all over. He tried to focus on what they were about to do – he knew that their lives depended on what happened at the airfield. But his mind just kept going back to the look on Jack's face when he discovered him kissing Kim.

"Jack-"

"Shut up, Tony."

He sighed. "Just talk to me, Jack. Even if you're going to yell at me, it's better than the silence."

"What's going on?" Chase interrupted.

"Mind your business, Edmunds," Jack snapped.

"Jack-"

"Look, Tony. We'll deal with this after."

"Do you hate me?"

Jack took a deep breath, mulling the question over.

"No. Not if what she said was true." He turned to look at his friend. "Do you love her?"

"Yes."

He turned his eyes back to the road and nodded.

"Then I guess we'll figure it out."

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They parked some distance away and got out of the car, the five of them arming themselves with weapons they had stowed in the trunk. Bill looked around at the airfield in front of them, the shadows making it difficult to pick anything out, but there was a hangar with its lights on.

"There are bound to be guards," he commented.

Jack nodded. "You and Chase go ahead. Take out any guards you meet in that hangar. Karen, Tony and I will go meet Heller."

"What are you going to do with him?"

He sighed. "I don't know yet. Hopefully the evidence that Nadia and Chloe found will be enough to put him away. I want the bastard to pay for what he's done."

Bill nodded. "Alright then. We'll meet you on the runway when we're finished."

"Be careful, guys. And keep a lookout for Mandy. She's still running loose."

Karen reached over and squeezed Bill's hand once, looking him deep in the eyes. Then she turned away and followed Jack and Tony into the night.

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Chase and Bill peered in through one of the windows, both smiling grimly when they saw that there were only three men inside the hangar. They were all lounging around a black limousine, doubtless waiting to drive Heller wherever he was staying. Taking them out and getting the keys would mean that the senator would have nowhere to run if he managed to get past the others.

Silently, they crept inside.

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They watched from the shadows as the plane rolled down the runway toward them, gradually slowing and coming to a stop. The landing lights shone brightly in the darkness, looking out of place so late in the night. All three stood still and silent, waiting to see who would descend before showing themselves and confronting Heller.

The door in the side of the plane opened, and Jack's jaw clenched as he watched Senator James Heller descend the stairs that led from the plane to the ground. Until that point, he had hoped that maybe somebody was impersonating the senator, that he wasn't really behind all the deaths. But his presence removed any room for doubt, and Jack knew that he had to end this now.

As they went to leave the shadows, movement to their left stopped them short. They watched in curiosity as Mandy emerged from the darkness, striding confidently toward the plane. Heller smiled politely when he saw her shaking her hand and leaning in close as she brought her lips to his ear and talked to him.

Unable to wait any longer, Jack disentangled himself from the shadows and moved forward, a grim expression on his face. Karen and Tony followed, both keeping their eyes peeled for any guards or thugs that might have accompanied Karen. They reached the plane without incident, however, and stopped a short distance from the two standing in front of them. Heller and Mandy had noticed them moving across the runway and had stopped short, both shocked to see them there and alive.

"Jack." Heller greeted.

"Senator Heller. It seems you've been busy lately."

"Jack-"

The agent talked right over him. "What with killing federal agents, some of whom you knew and worked with, you probably don't have time for anything else out in Washington."

"You have to understand-"

"We don't have to understand anything, Senator," Tony cut in. "You ordered the deaths of multiple CTU agents. Nothing justifies that."

"Karen, surely you understand-"

"Oh, I understand, Jim. I understand that you tried to kill my husband. And myself. Your men tried to rape Kim Bauer. And don't tell me they did that without your knowledge. You let them loose on us. You are responsible for every single thing that they have done. Your actions have been morally repugnant and illegal as hell. Trust me – you will pay for what you've done."

As Karen spoke, Tony let his gaze wander, still on the lookout for any henchmen they might have missed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mandy reach into the waistband of the back of her jeans and pull out a 9mm Beretta. Without hesitation, she raised her arm and aimed the gun at Karen's head. Tony leapt to the side, tackling Karen to the ground as the bullet whipped by so fast he felt it.

Instantly, he was up again, charging into Mandy and knocking her to the ground. They pummeled each other mercilessly, both trying to gain the upper hand. Mandy brought her gun arm in to take a shot at Tony's chest, but he quickly disarmed her, sending the weapon skittering across the pavement. His own gun was just as useless, as Mandy twisted his wrist back and forced him to drop it.

She pushed herself to her feet and gave Tony a resounding kick to the ribs. Grunting in pain, he swung his legs around and took out her ankles, bringing her back down to the ground. He rushed to his feet and lunged forward, aiming to land the same blow to her ribs. But Mandy was already back up and she spun to the side, slamming a fist into his kidneys as he passed her. Tony threw an elbow back, catching her between the shoulder blades and causing her to stumble as he turned around and punched her in the face.

Jack turned his attention back to Heller as the two fought close by. He didn't want to abandon Tony, but they couldn't let the senator escape, and he knew that his friend had issues that he needed to work out with the female assassin.

"Senator Heller, we're placing you under arrest."

"On what grounds?" Heller demanded.

Karen jumped in, still a little shaken from her near brush with death.

"For murder, conspiracy to commit murder, assault, and conspiracy to commit treason."

"Treason? I did this for the good of the country!"

"Save it, Jim," she growled "Your self-righteous patriotic bullshit won't fly here."

"You have no proof," Heller said quietly, his voice tight.

"We have all the proof we need. We found a disk in Richard Walsh's hotel room. It's already been decrypted. Everything is being sent to the Justice Department as we speak – not to mention the White House."

The senator turned to face Jack.

"I won't let you take me, Bauer. You'll have to kill me, and I don't think you can do that."

Next to them, the fight raged on. Mandy jammed her fist into Tony's solar plexus, forcing the air out of his lungs as he doubled over. With a cruel sneer, she gave him a fierce backhand to the face, sending him hard into the tail of the plane. She moved to pick up her gun then, turning and aiming the muzzle at Jack's head. Tony watched in horror and forced himself back to his feet, catapulting his body into hers.

Jack opened his mouth to respond to Heller's challenge, but was stopped as a loud pop erupted to his right. Suddenly, a bright red stain began to grow on Heller's white dress shirt, and the senator stared down at it in wonder. Slowly, he sank to the ground.

Seeing that she had shot her boss, Mandy quickly aimed again at her intended target. But by then, Tony had already snatched his gun up off the ground and swung around to face her. Without any hesitation, he pulled the trigger, sending a bullet ripping through her brain. Her weapon fell from lifeless fingers as she collapsed.

Karen knelt by Heller's side as the senator tried to stem the bleeding. She ripped some of the older man's jacket and used it as a rag, pressing it against the wound. Jack stood over the man he had once seen as a father-figure, wondering how he had every looked up to him.

"Why?" he asked. "Why did you target CTU? And don't give me that bullshit about national security. I want to know the real reason."

"It was all your fault," Heller rasped. "All of it."

"All of what?"

"You tortured my son. You killed my daughter's husband after having an affair with her. She's a shell now, because of what the Chinese did to her. And that's all your fault."

"I will take responsibility for the death of Paul Raines," Jack said quietly. "But Audrey made her own decisions."

"CTU ruined my children and my life. I have nothing left because of you. Because you let yourself be led astray by false information. Because you couldn't keep track of your own people. If they had just turned you over to the Chinese like they were supposed to, Audrey never would have gone to look for you."

"So you killed people who never even knew me – who had nothing whatsoever with what happened to your daughter – just to make CTU pay?"

"I did what I had to do," he asserted. Coughing, he looked up at Jack with a hard gleam in his eyes. "Just kill me, Bauer. I'm dying anyway."

Jack gave him a unkind smile. "Oh no, Senator. You're not going to die. That wound is too far from your heart and lungs to kill you before the paramedics get here. You'll live. And you'll pay for what you did. For every life you took."

He raised his eyes and looked around as sirens sounded in the distance. Turning, he saw Chase and Bill emerging from one of the hangars – a little bruised, but okay. He glanced at Tony, leaning against the tail of the plane as he tried to catch his breath. The sirens grew louder as the lights invaded the shadow.


	15. Epilogue

Angela balanced her cupcake on a plate on Nadia's swollen belly. They were celebrating the beginning of her final month of pregnancy with their own little party, just the three of them. Nadia even bought face paints and Angela had decorated her belly for the occasion.

Chase smiled at them before slipping onto the couch behind Nadia and wrapping his arms around her. She rested comfortably against his chest while Angela finished her cupcake and licked her fingers. She kissed Nadia's belly and then her cheek before bouncing off the couch to play.

"Did you ever imagine that we would end up like this?" Chase asked as he stretched out lazily under her.

"No," she admitted. "When we were being hunted down I never dreamed that I'd be pregnant, that we'd be planning a wedding, that I'd be adopting Angela and getting ready to have your son. But after my surgery, during the awful recovery I dreamed about it."

He smiled. "Then it's a good thing we didn't waste any time once they gave us the okay."

She giggled. "When did we ever waste any time?"

"You know," he said as she shifted on top of him, "we do have a babysitter for Bill and Karen's party."

She twisted until she could see him. "What do you have in mind?"

He shrugged. "I was thinking, maybe, after the party we could get a hotel room. Have a private celebration."

"You just the way my breasts look in that ridiculously low cut maternity dress."

"I do," he agreed. "I also like maternity lingerie I bought you."

"I figured that one out all on my own."

"Very smart Miss Yassir."

"I like to think so. I think we could probably go to a hotel after the party."

He scrambled off the couch. "I'll call then, get us a room."

She laughed. "You do that."

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As they watched the game, Tony stole nervous glances at Jack. The older man didn't seem to notice; he just continued drinking his beer and focusing on the television, oblivious to everything else. Tony took a deep breath and a sip of his own drink, but his stomach refused to settle and he honestly had no clue what was going on in the game.

"So…you two going to the party tomorrow?"

Jack gave him a funny look. "Yeah. Why?"

Tony shrugged. "Just making conversation." He paused. "Did you get them anything?"

Jack frowned, trying to decipher where his friend was going with this. "Yeah…I'm not sure what, though. Chloe handled that."

"Chloe went shopping? Voluntarily?"

"She went with Kim and Nadia. She tends to be more…girly when she's around them."

Tony nodded, smiling weakly at the comment. He began picking at the label on his beer bottle, his mind racing and at the same time blank.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Jack finally demanded.

His head shot up. "What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen you this nervous since we talked about the fact that you're sleeping with my daughter…oh my God."

"Jack-"

"You are, aren't you?"

"Jack, let me explain-"

"How can you explain this?"

"Does that mean you're not okay with it?"

Jack's face turned red as anger coursed through him.

"_Okay_!?! How the fuck could I be okay with this, Tony?"

"I was hoping you'd give me the okay…tell me that it was alright…"

"Why would you think that? Why would you think that I'd say it was okay for you to leave my daughter?"

Tony looked as though he'd been slapped in the face.

"Leave her?"

"This is unforgivable, Tony."

"Jack, what the hell are you talking about?"

In the face of his friend's confusion, Jack took a deep breath, his own anger giving way as he realized that they were talking about different things.

"Isn't that what you're telling me?" he asked. "That you're leaving Kim?"

"No!"

"Then why are you so nervous? I've only seen you like this when you've been afraid that I would kill you. And the only reason I would do that is if you hurt my little girl."

"Jack, I don't want to leave her."

"Okay."

"I'm not _going_ to leave her."

"Okay."

"I want to marry her."

"O-" Jack stopped short and looked at Tony in shock. "Really?"

"Yes. That's why I was nervous."

"You're asking for my blessing?"

Tony nodded, the butterflies in his stomach erupting once again. It turned out to be for nothing though, as Jack leaned back against the couch and smiled.

"You're going to marry my daughter," he said softly.

"So you are okay with it?"

Jack looked at him and nodded. "Of course, Tony. You make her happy – happier than I've ever seen her." He paused. "And she makes you happy, too. I know you'll never stop loving or missing Michelle, but…you two work better than I would have ever thought. And I'd be honored to have you as my son-in-law."

Tony swallowed back the emotion that was threatening to overwhelm him. Clearing his throat, he relaxed into the couch.

"Besides, it's about time you made an honest woman out of her."

"At least it didn't take me years and years to admit my feelings for her."

"Shut up."

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"Tell me why we're doing this again?" Karen asked as she opened another box and started going through its contents.

"Why we're moving into a new house or why we're celebrating our anniversary?" Bill asked as he flattened the box he had just emptied and reached for another.

"Both."

"Well, we moved because our old house got shot up. And we're celebrating because I love you very much, and I thank God every day that we came through that ordeal alive."

Karen smiled gently at her husband. "So do I," she said quietly. Then she turned back to the task at hand. "But what I was actually asking, was why we were doing them both at the same time?"

Bill sighed. "I ask myself that with every box we empty."

They both laughed.

"We're almost done though," he continued. "And the party tomorrow is going to be wonderful."

"I can't wait to see everyone together again," she agreed.

Bill walked over and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"And next week, we're going away."

"What?" she exclaimed, turning to face him.

Bill smiled and pulled an envelope out of his back pocket.

"I bought us two tickets on a three-week cruise."

She stared in amazement at the tickets in his hand.

"I've already arranged everything," he told her before she could raise any objections. "It's all set up."

Karen finally regained her balance and smiled at her husband, placing a gentle hand on his cheek.

"I love you, Bill."

"I love you too," he whispered, giving her a lingering kiss. "Happy anniversary."

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"You ready?" Tony asked as he walked into their bedroom.

Kim was lying on her side, her back to him. He frowned as he saw that she was curled in a tight ball, hugging her knees.

"I'm not going."

"What? Come on, Kim. Get up."

"I said I'm not going."

"We've been planning this picnic for two weeks."

She twisted around to face him.

"I don't care!" she yelled. "I'm not going!"

Tony stared at her as she turned back around. Her sudden bad mood had caught him off-guard, and he desperately tried to remember if he had done anything to hurt her. But nothing had happened lately that could explain why she was now yelling at him.

His gut reaction was to turn around and stalk out of the room. But the weight in his pocket stalled him, and he realized that he couldn't wait any longer, no matter what her response was.

"Then I guess I'll just have to do it here," he said as brightly as he could, walking around the bed so that he could face her.

"Do what?" she asked suspiciously, the fear in her eyes staggering.

He reached into his pocket and pulled a black box out, getting down on knee in front of her. Gently, he opened the box.

"Will you marry me?" he asked quietly.

She stared at him for a long moment, tears streaming down her face as she tried to assimilate what he had just said. Then she was up, flinging her arms around his neck and kissing him fiercely. Taken aback slightly, Tony lifted one hand to tangle in her hair as she nipped at his bottom lip and plunged her tongue into his mouth. He groaned against her, caught off-guard by her sudden passion. Eventually, he pulled away to catch his breath.

"Please tell me that means yes."

"You really want to marry me?" she asked shakily.

"Yes."

"Then it definitely means yes."

She gave him a watery smile as he pulled the ring out of the box and slid it gently onto her finger. Then he reached up and cupped her face.

"Now will you tell me what's wrong?"

"I thought you were going to leave me," she answered, her eyes on the ground.

Tony sighed in frustration, standing up and pushing her down onto the bed, bringing his body to lie next to her.

"Why does everybody think I'm going to leave you?"

She frowned. "Who's everybody?"

"Your dad."

"You talked to my dad?"

Tony nodded, leaning his forehead against hers as he pulled her body closer.

"I asked him for his blessing."

"And he's okay with it?"

"Yeah, Kim. In fact, I think he's happy about it."

She beamed at him before nuzzling her face in the crook of his neck.

"Why did you think I was leaving, Kim?"

"I ran into Kara."

"Who?"

"She interviewed for a job at CTU while we were there. She didn't get it."

"What did she say?"

Kim pulled back so she could look at him.

"She asked me how I was and what was new in my life. So I told her about you. She made a funny face and when I asked her what the problem was, she launched into this big speech about how you couldn't possibly love me, and that I'm obviously just your rebound fuck while you're grieving for Michelle."

Tony almost choked at her words.

"And you believed her?"

Kim shrugged. "I don't know. Please don't be mad, Tony. It just hurt. And with everybody celebrating anniversaries and planning weddings and having babies…"

"It made you wonder about us."

"I'm so sorry."

He kissed her gently on the lips.

"It's okay, Kim. I'm not mad. Well, I'm mad at Kara. But not at you. Never at you, baby."

"Are you sure? I just…" she trailed off as a thought struck her. "You had it all planned, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The picnic. You were going to propose at the park. By the lake."

Tony smiled. "Yeah, I was."

"I ruined it."

"No you didn't."

"I ruined it," she repeated. "I'm so sorry, Tony. You went to all this trouble and I-"

She was cut off as he kissed her again, tilting his head to deepen it and pulling her body into his as tightly as he could.

"You didn't ruin anything," he whispered huskily when he pulled back.

Kim smiled at him. "How long until the party?"

"Couple hours."

"Good," she murmured, pulling him in again.

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"Good morning Mrs. Bauer," Jack said softly when Chloe opened her eyes.

"Morning," she responded sleepily.

"Happy anniversary."

She gave him a crooked smile. "Are you going to do this every month?"

"Maybe."

She laughed lightly. "Then happy anniversary Jack. I even have a surprise for you."

"You do?"

She nodded.

"Are you going to tell me?"

She nodded again. "I'm just…nervous. It's stupid."

"Tell me."

She swallowed. "I'm pregnant."

His eyes widened and he pulled her closer to him. "Pregnant," he repeated.

She nodded slowly. "I took the test Tuesday. I was waiting…it's silly, but I wanted to tell you today."

"I think it might be the best three months anniversary present ever," he said, wrapping his arms around her body and covering her stomach with his hands.

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"I guess we're last," Tony said as he took Kim's hand and led her up the walkway to Bill and Karen's door, past Jack and Chase's cars.

Kim ran a hand through her hair. "You don't think they'll know do you?"

"You look fine," he assured her before pushing open the door.

They walked slowly through the house, dropping their present off on the table with the rest before finding their friends in the backyard. Nadia was stretched out on a couch, Chase hovering over her and handing her a plate of food. Jack and Chloe were sitting by the edge of the pool, his arm wrapped around her back. Bill and Karen stepped closer to the door to greet Kim and Tony.

Once they exchanged their hellos both couple crossed the grass to join the rest of the group.

"We want to thank you all for coming," Bill said. "It means so much to Karen, and to me, that we can all be here together. We have a lot to celebrate," he said nodding to Nadia.

She smiled. "The doctor says everything looks really good, we should have our little boy in a few more weeks."

Karen, Chloe, and Kim all gave her hugs. When Kim pulled away Nadia grabbed her hand and stared at the ring there.

"Do you have something to share with the group Miss Bauer?" she asked excitedly.

Kim beamed, leaning against Tony. "We're getting married."

More congratulatory hugs were exchanged, leading Jack to stare pointedly at Chloe, who glare back at him.

"We're pregnant," she finally blurted out. "Due in June." She couldn't stop the smile that burst across her face.

They broke up into smaller groups to talk and Bill pulled Jack aside.

"I looked into what you asked me about," Bill said softly.

"What did you find?" Jack asked under his breath, smiling reassuring and waving at Chloe when she looked up from her conversation with Nadia.

"While her father rots away in prison for what he did to all of us Audrey's being cared for in a facility in Europe. I looked into the place, it's legit, it has an excellent reputation."

Jack nodded. "And it's over."

"It's over. You and Chloe don't have anything to fear. None of us do. Not any more. We survived Jack. Now we get to enjoy it."

Jack shook Bill's hand and moved towards Chloe. "That's exactly what I plan on doing."


End file.
